Puutting aside otherwise irreconciliable differences, the West Bengal Left Front government and all opposition parties were today united in opposing the Monday order by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) abolishing cross-subsidy in power tariffs. The government promised the Assembly it would challenge the order in court and would also ask the Union Government to change the 1998 law that created the SERCs. Yesterday’s order had made West Bengal the only state in the country where cross-subsidies stand abolished.According to the order, all consumers of Calcutta Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC), which serves Kolkata and its suburbs — be they domestic, commercial or industrial — will now pay the same tariff, ending decades of cross-subsidies under which domestic consumers paid less than industrial and commercial users.The rates have been fixed at Rs 3.81 per unit for 2000-2001 and Rs 3.90 for 2001-2002. The domestic consumers not only have to pay the new rates from February 2003 but also arrears for two years. Domestic consumers at the lower end pay Rs 1.60 to Rs 1.89 a unit.Power Minister Mrinal Banerjee said in the House that the decision would hit the poor sections of the society hard and added the cash-strapped government was in no position to help them out with subsidies. ‘‘According to the order, a person who consumes 25 units per month as well as a person who is using 25 million units per month will both pay Rs 3.90 per unit. This is unjust and we cannot accept it,’’ Banerjee said.He also informed that Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has written to the Prime Minister to change the 1998 Act on the basis of which SERCs had been formed and their powers specified. The government is also moving the high court challenging the order.The SERC move followed a protracted legal battle between private power utility CESC Ltd and a section of consumers, which went all the way to the Supreme Court. In October, the apex court, while overturning a high court order in favour of CESC, had spoken against cross-subsidies.The SUCI, a Left party that is not a member of the ruling front, has called a Bangla bandh on January 27, while the ruling parties have decided to hit the streets tomorrow.‘‘We will observe a protest day tomorrow,’’ CPI(M) state committee secretary Anil Biswas announced. ‘‘We are also going to send a memorandum to the Prime Minister, which will be signed by people from all over the state.’’The state Assembly witnessed tumultous scenes over the issue today, with Trinamool Congress members burning copies of the order before joining the other Opposition parties in a walkout.RPG group Vice-Chairman and CESC chief Sanjiv Goenka, however, said his company would neither gain nor lose from the new tariff. ‘‘However, we have got nothing to do with this order as it was issued by the SERC,’’ Goenka told reporters.
