Power Sector and Kerala Budget - Dr D Shina
While open discontent of the power minister Aryadan Muhamed on the KERALA Budget 2103 has created heated discussion among political circles experts in power sector affairs have came out supporting the minister. The minister’s opinion that power sector deserves strong budgetary support at this juncture is worth serious consideration.
The finance minister seems to be governed by the common notion, came up in the post liberalisation years that power sector shall be left alone to survive from its own fund, and requires no budget support. But when the sector fails to do this and it starts affecting the economy of the state the government cannot keep the eyes shut. Other states and even the Union government are making good allocation to the power sector now
The shortage of power has dampened the operations in all the sectors. A preliminary study shows that the shortage has affected the production in the third and fourth quarters and the overall reduction is estimated to be between 10 and 20 percent. Hence the Finance Minister dreaming of an economic growth of two digits cannot overlook this situation, Dr Shina said.
Huge power shortage cannot be solved overnight though magic. Import of costly power is the only immediate solution. This hard need for money cannot be overlooked by the government. The acute situation arose primarily due to the failure of rain. Kerala State Electricity Board also deserves drought relief. Transferring the whole burden to KSEB and eventually to the consumers is not fair on any account.
Economic aims of the state also call for the same. The state has shown a sign of commencement of growth phase. This shall not be arrested by problems in poer availability. It is well known among economists that a shortage of power worth rupee one cause a production loss of rupee eight. Hence it is the duty of the govt to share the burden. It is a must for fulfilling the dreams aired in “Emerging Kerala”
The current un corrected power shortage is around
The finance minister seems to be governed by the common notion, came up in the post liberalisation years that power sector shall be left alone to survive from its own fund, and requires no budget support. But when the sector fails to do this and it starts affecting the economy of the state the government cannot keep the eyes shut. Other states and even the Union government are making good allocation to the power sector now
The shortage of power has dampened the operations in all the sectors. A preliminary study shows that the shortage has affected the production in the third and fourth quarters and the overall reduction is estimated to be between 10 and 20 percent. Hence the Finance Minister dreaming of an economic growth of two digits cannot overlook this situation, Dr Shina said.
Huge power shortage cannot be solved overnight though magic. Import of costly power is the only immediate solution. This hard need for money cannot be overlooked by the government. The acute situation arose primarily due to the failure of rain. Kerala State Electricity Board also deserves drought relief. Transferring the whole burden to KSEB and eventually to the consumers is not fair on any account.
Economic aims of the state also call for the same. The state has shown a sign of commencement of growth phase. This shall not be arrested by problems in poer availability. It is well known among economists that a shortage of power worth rupee one cause a production loss of rupee eight. Hence it is the duty of the govt to share the burden. It is a must for fulfilling the dreams aired in “Emerging Kerala”
The current un corrected power shortage is around