Port Blair, Mar 24: Mr. Kuldeep Rai Sharma, the Member of Parliament on 22.03.2021 has taken up yet another important issue in the parliament concerning the Islanders and the employees of the Electricity Department arising out of the Central Government decision to privatise the Electricity Department of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Mr. Sharma while addressing the Hon’ble Speaker in the parliament said that the decision of the Central Government to privatise Electricity in Andaman and Nicobar Islands along with the other Union Territories taken with a view to curtailing the expenses to the public exchequer on production and supply of electricity as also tariff for consumers, is not a well thought and welcome move in the Islands’ perspective and need to be withdrawn as privatisation it is neither going to benefit the government nor the Islanders.
Clarifying the same, the Member of Parliament said that in various other States of India, the production of electricity is mainly done through thermal or hydroelectric means hence it is cheap, whereas in Andaman Nicobar Islands requirement of electricity at 19 distantly located inhabited islands are met through 53 odd Power Houses having a total installed capacity of around 145 Megawatts which contributes towards 93% of the electric power requirement of the Islands. Mr. Sharma said that the production cost of one unit of electricity through Diesel Generators comes around Rs.19/- and by adding up the cost of Rs.8/- per unit for Transmission, Distribution and line loss etc., the total cost of supply of one unit of electricity comes to around Rs.27/- whereas average billing to the consumers are done at a much subsidized average rate of Rs.6.90/-. Mr. Sharma emphasized that Electricity being a crucial utility item for all consumers particularly the poor strata of society, the end user’s tariff, and affordability to pay the tariff by the end-users needs prime consideration. He said privatisation of Electricity in the Islands if is done with a view to achieving economic viability, then Islanders will experience an exponential increase in the Electricity tariff and a consumer who is now paying Rs.500/- towards monthly charges for electricity consumed will have to pay around Rs.2000/- per month for the same unit of power consumed.
Mr. Sharma while addressing the Hon’ble Speaker also expressed concern over the growing unemployment in the Islands and said that privatisation of the Electricity Department will render around 3000 employees of the Electricity Department jobless and as a consequence of privatisation the islanders as a whole will be losing 3000 government jobs.
Owing to the above reasons Mr. Sharma through the Hon’ble Speaker requested the Central Government to withdraw the decision of privatisation of Electricity Department functioning under the Andaman and Nicobar Administration in these Islands.
