The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Vijayawada News : Power tariff will go up if TDP returns to power: YSR

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 18, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

Power tariff will go up if TDP returns to power: YSR

By Our Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA, APRIL 17. The former CLP leader, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has said that the Telugu Desam Party, if voted back to power, will increase power tariff by a minimum of 15 per cent.

Speaking at `Meet-the-press' programme at the Press Club here on Saturday, Dr. Reddy listed out the measures likely to be taken by the Government, if the TDP-BJP combine was elected.

The TDP would increase power tariff as part of its agreement with the World Bank, he said, adding that the World Bank stipulated that the tariff of power distributed to the agriculture sector should be levied at the `minimum cost of generation' level.

Farmers would have to pay an additional rupee per unit with immediate effect and suffer another such hike in tariff in about a year.

Dr. Reddy said the prices of petrol and diesel were hiked 28 times in the past five years. Immediately after elections, the price of diesel would be increased by Rs. 5 a litre and petrol by Rs. 3.50 a litre, he said. The proposals were pending with the Prime Minister, who was likely to clear it if the BJP came back to power, he added.

Most profit-making Central public sector undertakings like ONGC, GAIL, IOC, HPCL, BHEL and NTPC were ready to be sold as part of the ongoing second generation reforms, he alleged.

"The State Government is not lagging behind the Central Government. It has plans to sell away APGenco, APTransco, Discoms, RTC, Singareni Collieries, SPSFC and APIDC on the lines of the State-owned cooperative sugar and spinning mills."

Dr. Reddy said that India was shining `in the eyes of the BJP' despite negative growth in employment (in manufacturing sector) -- the annual rate of growth in employment in the past six years was 1.7 per cent as against 2.1 per cent in the previous decade.

The annual rate of employment growth for women had plummeted from 0.9 per cent to 0.3 per cent.

The foreign debt, which was Rs. 7.78 lakh crores in 1998 had shot up to Rs. 17.19 lakh crores in 2004.

The Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, had been claiming that the State was shining though the economic growth in the past nine years slumped to 5.1 per cent as against the national average of 6 per cent.

Interestingly, the economic growth rate of the State was 6.43 per cent against the national average of 5.68 per cent in 1981-80. The asset-liabilities ratio of the State fell from 101:100 in 1994 to 43:100 in 2004.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh

News Update

Stories in this Section

Naxals step up activity in Palnadu, Nallamala areas

Power tariff will go up if TDP returns to power: YSR

TDP nominee on a hat-trick trail

UDA's gesture to Police Department