Bihar government seeks uniformity in power tariff

Voicing strong disapproval of the prevalence of regional tariff forcing states to purchase power at differential rates, the JD(U) government on Thursday urged the Centre to remove discrepancy by putting in place an uniform tariff policy.

Voicing strong disapproval of the prevalence of regional tariff forcing states to purchase power at differential rates, the JD(U) government on Thursday urged the Centre to remove discrepancy by putting in place an uniform tariff policy.

The existing regional power tariff policy discriminates against a poor state like Bihar which has to purchase power at higher rate when the same commodity is available to other states at lesser rates, Bihar Power Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav told the Assembly.

Yadav said that he had questioned the rationate of regional power tariff policy and its debilitating impact on Bihar during a conference of power ministers in Guwahati recently attended among others by the Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal who promised to look into the matter.

The minister also lashed out at the NDA government for putting additional burden on Bihar for rural electrification scheme under Deen Dayal Gram Jyoti Yojana by raising the sharing formula between the Centre and the states at 60:40 ratio against 90:10 formula under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana.

With the power situation likely to be a key issue in the Assembly polls due later this year, Yadav claimed that 50% households in Bihar have been electrified, while the remaining households would be covered in due course of time.

The house later passed the power department's budgetary demand by a voice vote amid walk out by the opposition BJP MLAs.