Power crisis takes some shine off MP

It was the major factor in Digvijay’s debacle at the polls. Now the power crisis in Madhya Pradesh is haunting the Uma Bharati governme...

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It was the major factor in Digvijay’s debacle at the polls. Now the power crisis in Madhya Pradesh is haunting the Uma Bharati government. With agricultural demand rising, power cuts are back even as the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (MPERC) has tightened the screws on the state government for failing to pay arrears due to the MP State Electricity Board (MPSEB).

In fact, at a hearing yesterday, the MPERC indicated that if the government fails to shell out dues, the subsidies to the ‘‘weaker’’ sections could be withdrawn by mid-March.

The timing could not be worse for the government because the power crisis will be at its peak just prior to the Lok Sabha polls. The subsidy that the government is required to shell out is over Rs 400 crore, an impossible figure for a government left with less than Rs 200 crore to tide over the state till the next financial year.

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Another headache for the government is its unwise endorsement of Digvijay’s Rs 1,340 crore-freebie — the decision to waive bills for irrigation pumps for a three-year period ending on December 31 last year. The Central Electricity Act, 2003, requires the payment of this subsidy to the board. Digvijay had invoked a provision of the Act to keep it in abeyance for six months but that period has ended. The government has been given till April to come up with a payment plan. MPERC chairman P.K. Mehrotra reportedly cautioned the government at a hearing yesterday: ‘‘Then, it was Vidhan Sabha, now it is Lok Sabha and the panchayat and urban civic body polls are also coming up. By the time you propose a plan, it would be six months since the announcement of the subsidy.’’

The MPERC has also directed that till the government foots the subsidy, bills issued to consumers will continue to show arrears, including the arrears the government claims to have waived. Similar bills issued before Assembly polls had led farmers to question Digvijay’s announcement.

All this ties in with the MPSEB’s difficulty in meeting peak demand. And while the BJP had said the dissension between Jogi and Digvijay was why Chhattisgarh was not supplying power to MP, the BJP’s presence in both states has not changed the equation.