Though the power shortage in Gujarat is much worse during summers than in Karnataka, it is Gujarat that would be supplying electricity to Karnataka.
Though the power shortage in Gujarat is much worse during summers than in Karnataka, it is Gujarat that would be supplying electricity to Karnataka which, incidentally, is also a BJP-ruled state. Observers of the political scene in Gujarat are surprised by this decision as Lok Sabha elections are round the corner.
It is common knowledge that, as in almost every state of the country, the availability of power goes down in Gujarat during summer. All areas of the state which are supplied power by the Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) have to endure power cuts on a daily basis at this time of the year. Yet the state government has announced that Gujarat would supply electricity to Karnataka.
Does this mean that chief minister Narendra Modi is so confident of winning most of the Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat that he is willing to divert electricity from his power-starved state even at the risk of alienating his supporters in the rural and urban areas?
Political observers say that Modi is extending a helping hand to
Karnataka’s chief minister as the BJP-led government there is not confident of doing well at the hustings. BJP circles believe that improved power supply may persuade voters in Karnataka to cast their lot with the saffron party. They say that even the so-called Silicon Valley of India (Bangalore) faces regular power cuts during the March-May period.
Central Electricity Authority (CEA) data indicate that Gujarat faced an average power deficit of 11% during the April 2008 to January 2009 period, while the peak deficit in the same period stood at 25.5%.
In contrast, Karnataka’s average deficit was much lower at 6.1%, while the peak level deficit was just 8%. In 2008 and 2007, too, the power deficit during the March-June period in Gujarat was 2-3 times higher than that in Karnataka. Strangely, state’s energy minister, Saurabh Patel, claims that the notion that Gujarat is a power deficient state is a ‘myth’. “During the last assembly session, I stated that we are a power surplus state now,” Patel told DNA. “CEA figures showing Gujarat as a power-deficient state are not correct because the CEA considers 24-hour electricity supply to agriculture before arriving at its figures. The state government, on the other hand, has a policy of 8 hours’ power supply to this sector.”
With inputs from Kapil Dave
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