The power tariff issue which was sparked off with a tweet of Union Power Minister for State (Independent Charge) Piyush Goyal last week seems to have something in favour of consumers of Jharkhand.
BJP leader and newly elected Rajya Sabha member from Jharkhand Mahesh Poddar reaffirmed his stand on the matter on Monday that it was beyond his understanding why the State was purchasing electricity at over Rs5 per unit, when the Centre was able to provide same at below Rs3 per unit.
“The State electricity authority and officials are shedding tears of loss since long ago. I fail to understand why State electricity board has been purchasing electricity at over Rs5 per unit, when Union Power Minister comes up everyday with data that electricity is available at around Rs2.5 per unitIJ There is something which needs to be discussed and worked out,” said Poddar, who is also a Member of Advisory Committee on Power, on Monday.
He said that both the Centre and the State were committed to provide 24x7 power supply to every home by 2019, and both were working in that direction positively. “But this needs a paradigm shift in the way system as a whole has been working. And it undoubtedly needs optimum utilisation of resources. And I can say that RK Srivastava (Additional Chief Secretary and Energy Secretary of Jharkhand) might have his points to dismiss Piyush Goyal’s claim that electricity is available at a lower level. But when it comes to have trust, I trust in Union Minister’s version,” Poddar said.
However, when contracted, JUVNl MD Rahul Purwar denied commenting on the topic saying that it was an issue of power purchase and sale, and he was heading a power distribution company. At the same time, Srivastava chose not to comment on the topic.
The entire issue started with Piyush Goyal tweeting on December 9 that over 3,250 MW electricity was available for States to purchase at around Rs2.5 per unit. Poddar retweeted it with asking why State electricity board was purchasing electricity at over Rs5 per unit, when the Centre was ready to provide same at almost half the rate. RK Srivastava claimed that the claims of Goyal were factually wrong.
The fact is that Srivastava had recently advocated for a power price hike in the State saying that purchasing electricity at the cost of over Rs5 per unit from power generators and selling it to around Rs2 per unit (base price) to end users was creating a loss of Rs2,500 crores annually to the Government. He claimed that it was difficult for any Government to keep on funding this gap for ever. However, claims made by Goyal and issues raised by Poddar has started suggesting that there is something wrong in managing the power.
“This is exactly my whole argument. If you have sufficient reasons to defend your claims of purchasing power at higher tariff, you must come forward and put it in public domain. And I believe consumers are there to pay a fair price of anything,” said Poddar.