Power sharing — Chhattisgarh, MP on warpath

NOV 24: Within less than a month of its formation, a `power' sharing row between the new state of Chhattisgarh and its parent state of Mad...

NOV 24: Within less than a month of its formation, a `power’ sharing row between the new state of Chhattisgarh and its parent state of Madhya Pradesh, is threatening to assume proportions of a full-blown inter-state dispute.

Within 24 hours of the newly-created Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB) to withhold revenue to the MP State Electricity Board (MPSEB), the MP High Court on Thursday ordered that status quo as on November 1 —- the day the new state was born —- be maintained.

The interim order by the Indore bench of the court followed a PIL, which said the CSEB cannot interfere with the MPSEB’s working till the Centre finalises division of the latter’s assets and liabilities between the two states in accordance with the States Reorganisation Act of 2000.

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While experts debated over jurisdiction of the MP High Court over Chhattisgarh, especially after its own High Court had come into being, a Chhattisgarh Government spokesman refused to comment on the court order. “We will seek the opinion of our Advocate General on the implications of the court order,” said Sunil Kumar, Principal Secretary (Information) to the CHhattisgarh Government when contacted on phone.

Legalities apart, the CSEB’s decision to keep revenue collected from consumers within its territory has hit the cash-starved MPSEB hard. The court order, thus came, as a huge relief to MP which was still grappling with the MPSEB’s precarious finances till late tonight.

CHhattisgarh not only accounts one-third of MPSEB’s revenues, but also generates 800 MW power against the local demand of 650 MW. “Even without division, we suffered a cash loss of Rs 210 crore,” said an MP official.

“The CSEB’s decision to withold revenue collections would have brought the MPSEB’s work to standstill,” he said.

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While the CHhattisgarh government is studying the court order, sources did not rule out the possibility of the state moving the Chhattisgarh High Court or the Supreme Court in this matter.“This could lead to a full-fledged legal battle between the two Congress governments,” they fear.

The legal battle may also caste its shadow on asset division talks in Delhi between MP Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and Chhattisgarh CM Ajit Jogi on November 25.

At a time when MP is witnessing massive power cuts forcing it to switch off 50 per cent of street lights in the state, the Jogi Government is moving towards total lifting of the power cuts in Chhattisgarh region. Jogi has said that revenue collected from sale of Chhattisgarh’s surplus power will be used to tackle the drought in the state. He has also promised to cut power tarrif in Chhattisgarh since the cost of power generation there works out to less than Rs one per unit.

On the other hand, Singh’s government is in a tight corner. He is now being forced to take hard decisions, including increasing power tarrif in rest of MP and abandoning free power supply to farmers for irrigation.