Eyeing Parliamentary elections to be held next year, the Punjab government has decided to defer for the record 10th time, the unbundling of the Punjab State Electricity Board as the government is not in a mood to displease about 80,000 workers of the PSEB.
Sources in the Punjab chief minister?s office told FE that the CM Parkash Singh Badal has sent a DO letter to union power minister requesting that ?unbundling of the state electricity board be deferred further till May 31, 2009?.
The letter said the state government was not in a position to arrange funds for the unbundling of the PSEB for the time being. It is learnt that the Punjab government was not in a position to clear huge outstanding arrears running into about Rs 2,000 crore and did not intended to annoy a workforce of about 80,000 in view of forthcoming Parliamentary elections.
After coming to power, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had sought an extension of six months from the Centre to initiate power reforms in the state. In December 2007, the Punjab government sought another extension of six months and the Centre obliged yet again by giving an extension upto February 29, 2008. Then it sought another six months extension upto August 2008. Subsequently, the state government sought another six months extension but the Centre agreed for an extension till November, 2008.
In September, (it is mandatory to seek extension at least three months in advance from the earlier extension expires) the Punjab CM sent his last DO letter to the union power minister seeking extension till May 31, 2009.
The political compulsions of the successive Punjab governments could be understood from the fact that earlier the previous Amarinder Singh government had got a number of extensions from the power ministry to avoid power reforms since year 2003. Official sources told FE that 18 states had already ?unbundled? their electricity boards and formed different companies as part of reforms to look after generation, transmission and distribution. However, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Tamilnadu and some north east states have been on an extension seeking mode. However, the immediate cause of concern for the Punjab government is a letter from the power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, suggesting that mounting financial loss and debt burden on the PSEB will lead to its collapse.
Shinde had written a letter to Badal drawing his attention towards the deteriorating fiscal conditions of the PSEB. Expressing concern over the accumulated fiscal losses of Rs 6,500 crore and debt burden of Rs 13,000 crore, Shinde had told the state government that such a situation was not good for the PSEB.
The government, in its latest letter to the power ministry, has stated that it needs more time to bring all stakeholders on the board. It has also mentioned that restructuring of the board without financial restructuring is not feasible. It also states, presently the government is facing financial constraints.