The Hindu : Power reforms hold key to next elections

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 02, 2002

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Power reforms hold key to next elections

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI JUNE 1. The stakes are high for the ruling Congress as a lot depends on the success of the power reforms programme initiated with privatisation of the distribution network of the Delhi Vidyut Board. This coupled with the scheduled commissioning of the Delhi Metro Rail project could well prove to be triumph card for the ruling party during the next Assembly polls likely to be held around November 2003.

``A prosperous privatisation would reap rich dividends for the ruling party and give it an edge during the Assembly polls. But any failure could prove disastrous and make the going tough,'' a senior Minister remarked. The Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, also strongly feels that this could well give the Congress a big edge over the BJP which would also be burdened by the poor performance of the Vajpayee Government.

In fact, the privatisation has by and large been welcomed by not only by the common man but also the ruling party legislators. Any improvement and a turn around in the power situation during the next few months could prove to be politically beneficial for the Congress MLAs who are now banking on the success of power reforms. However, they are also aware of the fact that any hiccup or derailment of the process would invite the wrath of the people who have high expectations from the private companies to restore some semblance in the power availability situation of the Capital.

The bold move by the Chief Minister with the strong backing of the party high command, to initiate power reforms could well set the path for disinvestment and privatisation of some other sectors like tourism and water distribution system. The foremost task before the private players would be to get hold of the situation first and work towards bringing down the theft of power, considered to be a major source of pilferage of revenue. It is also hoped that the gap between the honest and dishonest consumers would be reduced considerably and all those who have been taking the system and the exchequer for a ride would be dealt with firmly. But it could also mean end of the road for certain political leaders and MLAs who are understood to be part of the mafia which helps in tapping of power illegally.

As for the political gains, the ruling party leaders are of the view that if everything falls in place during the next one year, it could prove to be a major election plank for the Congress to contest the next Assembly polls scheduled for November 2003. With the issue of improved power situation and success of power reforms in their hands, the Congress could well put the BJP on the defensive. "We hope that everything works out fine. A lot depends on how the distribution system is set in order by the private players. It would also substantially reduce our headache as breakdowns would come down and various factors including theft responsible for the collapse of the system would be eliminated by the private parties. But the Government should continue to monitor the situation as any adverse development could spell doom for us,'' a senior MLA remarked.

Similarly, with the Delhi Metro Rail project scheduled to begin commercial operations on the Shahdara-Tis Hazari section from December this year, the ruling Congress could well look forward to appreciation from a cross section of society. The decongestion of roads which would become possible after the Metro Rail project gets going would go down very well with the harassed motorists and commuters. Also the coming up of a huge network of flyovers all over the Capital could also prove beneficial to the Sheila Dikshit Government which could well approach the people for re-election on the plank of development with good governance.

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