Minister defends MoU with Centre

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUG. 21. The Electricity Minister, Mr. Kadavoor Sivadasan, has said that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on power reforms the State had signed with the Centre on Monday was intended to retrieve the KSEB from the debt-trap into which it had fallen.

At a press conference here today, the Minister said the MoU would also spur the process of development in the State.

Mr. Sivadasan said 14 States had already signed MoUs containing the same conditions with the Centre. These States are West Bengal, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jarkhand, Uttaranchal, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajastan and Uttar Pradesh.

Ten of these States and five others which had not yet signed such MoUs have by now constituted tariff regulatory commissions. He said the LDF and the trade unions affiliated to the left parties were forgetting that the measures being adopted now were the same as the steps proposed in 1998 in the `Power Policy' announced by the Nayanar Government.

``The LDF's power policy had envisaged the profit centres to be constituted in the vital sectors of generation, transmission and distribution as institutions with `extensive autonomy'. It had also specified that the autonomy will apply to decision making in several areas including capital investment, resource mobilisation and appointing staff in certain categories,'' he said.

Similarly, the powers of the tariff regulatory commission too were clearly defined by the LDF's power policy. It was categorically stated in the power policy, printed and circulated by the Nayanar Government, that the decisions of the commission would be `final and binding', Mr. Sivadasan said.

He said it was unfortunate that the LDF, because of its ineptitude, could not implement its power policy despite having three years to do so. When the LDF was voted out of office, the KSEB's annual finances were in deficit by a staggering Rs. 1,925 crores. ``I am giving you the statistics as presented in Mr. T. Sivadasa Menon's budget for 2001-02. The same budget had also suggested how this gap could be filled. A sum of Rs. 800 crores was to be mobilised through tariff hike and Rs. 801 crores through grants,'' he said.

The UDF Government, realising that a hike in the dimension suggested in Mr. Menon' budget would be too heavy a burden for the consumers when applied at one go, increased the power tariff by only 25 per cent, he said.

Recounting the reforms the Left Front government in West Bengal had already initiated, Mr. Sivadasan said the electricity distribution in Kolkota city was now being handled by a private firm called Kolkota Electricity Supply Company. Similarly, the other States were also going ahead with reforms.

``The intention of the MoU is to ensure the supply of quality power at affordable cost. The implementation of the terms of the MoU will be reviewed every three months. The MoU will be valid for five years. Every year its benefits will be evaluated,'' he said.

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