Power Tariff Regulatory Commission to be set up

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUG. 2. The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to constitute an Electricity Tariff Regulatory Commission in the State within three months.

The Chief Minister, Mr. A.K. Antony, told mediapersons after the Cabinet meeting that the Principal Secretary (Power) would be asked to send a proposal in this regard within 15 days.

The Chief Minister said steps would be taken to improve and modernise the functioning of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB). The Cabinet had decided that the KSEB should expedite the functioning of the profit centres and get it fully implemented within three months as part of the reform process. The Government will shortly sign a memorandum of understanding with the Government of India for implementation of the reform process.

The Board, the Cabinet required, should send a proposal containing detailed guidelines for allotment of small and mini hydel projects to the industries for captive use.

Mr. Antony said that a differential pricing system had been approved by the Cabinet along with tariff hike. The matter of granting incentives for high load factor and high power factor should be studied by the Board in detail and issue orders on merits within two months. The Board should also take immediate steps to reduce the transmission and distribution loss, pilferage and replace the defective meters on a time-bound basis.

He said the installation of the Liquefied Natural Gas terminal in Kochi would be expedited (so that cheap fuel would be available for power generation in the State).

He said the State required new hydroelectric projects to keep the tariffs low. He would urge the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, to sanction the Pooyamkutty project and other hydroelectric projects when he meets him in Delhi next week. A partnership with the National Hydroelectric Development Corporation for the Pooyamkutty project was under consideration of the Government. The State was not asking for the Silent Valley project.

The Cabinet, he said, had decided against a proposal for 30 minutes load-shedding during peak hours. This was proposed to keep down the expenditure of the KSEB on purchasing power from thermal power plants at high rates to meet the peak load.

`No partiality in RCC probe'

The Chief Minister said that the Government was not trying to protect anyone involved in the alleged testing of drugs on cancer patients without necessary approvals. The Government was neither for nor against anyone in this regard.

The Government had ordered an inquiry and the inquiry officer was not a nominee of the RCC Director, Dr. M. Krishnan Nair. Those who were not satisfied with the inquiry could present their complaints elsewhere. Already, the Central Government, the Human Rights Commission and the High Court were looking into the incident.

He said that as the chairman of RCC, he felt that the doctors of the centre should act in a restrained manner. They should not be launching an agitation outside the centre over the issue. Such actions would harm the institution. They should follow established norms while trying to get redressal for their complaints. Their present behaviour gave currency to the allegation that people from outside were trying to destroy the institution through them.

He said the inquiry officer would submit his report in three weeks. If his report was not satisfactory, further inquiry could be ordered.

The Chief Minister declined to comment on the Centre recalling IPS officials serving in Tamil Nadu. There was no such issue in Kerala, he said noting that no instance of recall of officials had occurred in Kerala. He had not received any letter from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalitha, in this regard.

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Section  : Southern States
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