Front Page   

State gets more time for KSEB recast

Power Minister A.K. Balan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the Centre granting six more months for restructuring the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), the State government will try to complete the process within the stipulated time and retain it in the public sector itself, Power Minister A.K. Balan has said.

Mr. Balan told mediapersons here on Thursday that the tenure of the board would end on December 9 and then could continue only as a licensing agency. An expert committee formed by the government for board restructuring on November 18, 2006, had submitted its report.

The government would seek opinion of the Power Department and either issue an executive order or frame a legislation in compliance with the provisions of the Central Electricity Act. Mr. Balan secured an extension for restructuring following the discussions he had with Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde after the weekly Cabinet meeting in the morning.

Mr. Balan clarified that the Centre would not grant more time for restructuring again. The expert committee comprising the former advocate-general M.K. Damodaran, former board chairman Sidhartha Menon, Power Secretary K.K.Vijayakumar and the former KSEB Officers Association leader R.R. Unnithan visited various States and met experts as well as leaders of various political parties for preparing the report.

Already the Centre had granted seven extensions spanning six months each, four during the tenure of the UDF government and three since the LDF came to power, and there was no scope for buying more time for restructuring.

Generation, transmission and distribution would be maintained under one umbrella and would not be privatised at any cost. Mr. Balan said that the government was taking steps to avert load-shedding during next summer. Though the State received copious rainfall, the inflow into the dams had come down. Last year, there was water to generate 900 million units, but this year’s inflow diminished and could generate only 500 million units.

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

Stories in this Section

Notice issued to Narendra Modi
Interceptor missile test-fired
No need for Modi to be sorry: BJP
Don’t equate Left with communal forces: Karat
Sonia Gandhi hits out at BJP on nuclear deal
Interceptor missile scores ‘direct hit’
Missile test: scientists ecstatic
Rain clouds hover over third Test
Misbah is captaincy material: Rameez
Tender for helicopters scrapped
‘Bad management decisions hampered probe’
Modi says Sonia compelled him to rake up Hindutva
BJP to take up Malaysian ethnic Indians’ issue with PM
Let Modi justify encounter before court: Vaghela
Exemption for Service chiefs
Helicopter deal: fresh request for proposal soon
Court permits women bartenders in Delhi
Bus burning case: High Court confirms death sentence on three
NIFT designs for Corporation staff uniforms
Dormant fear among communities
Harrisons Malayalam land to be recovered
State gets more time for KSEB recast
Zero Budget Farming soon in Erode
A pilot project to keep students healthy
Tourism project almost over at dam
Privilege motion
State-of-the-art chopper for State by April
CBI questions former RAW official
Two carrying crude bombs arrested

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu