Chautala govt sidetracks power issues

CHANDIGARH, NOV 17: The Haryana government continued to dilly dally on the twin issues of power sector reforms and providing free power t...

CHANDIGARH, NOV 17: The Haryana government continued to dilly dally on the twin issues of power sector reforms and providing free power to farmers, in the winter session of the Haryana Assembly, despite a concerted effort by the Opposition to elicit a clear-cut reply on the issue.

The Om Parkash Chautala government, sensing that a direct answer to any of the questions could send wrong political signals, deftly sidetracked the issue and evaded a direct reply. The standard reply of the Government was that the power sector reforms initiated by the Bansi Lal government were being “reviewed”. On the question of free power, Chautala stated that it “needs to be debated upon”.

A clear yes to free power would send wrong signals to the World Bank; a negative answer would imply that the farmers whose expectations had been raised in the recent Lok Sabha elections by the promise of free power and water would be annoyed, thus threatening a major vote-bank of the government.

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The Opposition — comprising the Congress and the Haryana Vikas Party — availed of every opportunity, whether it was the no-confidence motion, call-attention motion or the zero hour, to raise the issue, only to be faced with evasive replies. It is interesting to note that prior to formation of the Government, free power to farmers and the reform process were major planks for the Chautala-led Indian National Lok Dal.

The issue arose during the no-confidence motion on Monday when Mani Ram Godara (HVP) and Randeep Singh Surjewala (Congress) asked the Government to state in clear terms whether it was going ahead with the promise of free power and water for farmers. Finance Minister Sampat Singh ignored the questions and instead went on to list the achievements of the Government.

Sensing that the Government was not in a position to issue a clear-cut statement, the Opposition insisted on a direct answer. “Say yes or no,” said Godara. However, this, too, did not elicit a reply. The Opposition, sensing that the government would not be able to give a direct reply, made the issue its main plank in the entire session.

In response to a call-attention motion by Karan Singh Dalal (BJP), Chautala on Tuesday said, keeping in view the high cost of power and the state’s limited generating capacity, especially hydel power, the issue of free power would need to be debated upon and would require consultation with various sections of society”.

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During the debates, Capt Ajay Singh (Congress) wanted the Government to clearly state its policy on power sector reforms and wished an answer on whether the Chautala government would reverse the reform process initiated by the Bansi Lal government. Surjewala sought to know whether the agriculture tariff would be hiked from 50 paise to Rs 1.50, a condition which he said the Government had acceded to in the reform process. The Government sensing that an answer would be contentious said the entire gamut of power sector reforms was under review.