Privatization will Never Benefit the Government but will add to the Burden of Islanders: Kuldeep
Port Blair, March 24: 3The Member of Parliament, Shri Kuldeep Rai Sharma has taken up yet another important issue in the Parliament concerning the Islanders and the employees of Electricity Department arising out of the Central Government decision to privatise Electricity Department of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Addressing the Hon'ble Speaker, the MP said that the decision of Central Government to privatise Electricity in Andaman & Nicobar Islands along with the other Union Territories taken with a view to curtail the expenses to public exchequer on production and supply of electricity as also tariff for consumers, is not a well thought and welcome move in the Islands' perspective. It needs to be withdrawn as privatisation is neither going to benefit the government nor the Islanders.
Clarifying the same, the Member of Parliament said that in various other states of India, the production of electricity is mainly done through thermal or hydroelectric means, hence it is cheap. In Andaman & Islands requirement of electricity at 19 distantly located inhabited islands are met through 53 odd Power Houses having a total installed capacity of around 145 Megawatts which contributes towards 93% of electric power requirement of the Islands. Sharma mentioned that production cost of one unit of electricity through Diesel Generators comes around Rs.19/- and by adding up the cost of Rs. 8/- per unit for Transmission, Distribution and line loss etc., the total cost of supply of one unit of electricity comes to around Rs. 27/- whereas average billing to the consumers are done at a much subsidised average rate of Rs. 6.90/-.
The MP emphasized that Electricity being a crucial utility item for all consumers particularly the poor strata of society, the end user's tariff and affordability to pay the tariff by the end users needs prime consideration. He said privatisation of Electricity in the Islands if is done with a view to achieve economic viability, then Islanders will experience exponential increase in the Electricity tariff and a consumer who is now paying Rs. 500/- towards monthly charges for electricity consumed will have to pay around Rs. 2000/- per month for the same unit of power consumed.
The MP also expressed concern over the growing unemployment in the Islands and said that privatisation of Electricity Department will render around 3000 employees of Electricity Department jobless.