Bihar govt not for power tariff reduction

Patna, Jan 2: Amid demands in several states for power

reduction on the lines of AAP government's move to reduce tariff in Delhi,

government today refused to toe the line, saying that the rate was already low and much below the purchase price in the state.

"The power tariff is already very low in Bihar at Rs 2-2.25 per unit for urban consumers and much below the purchase price of the commodity," state Electricity Minister Bijendra Yadav told reporters in reply to a question.

Also, Bihar has just 11% urban area, said electricity minister Bijendra Yadav.

"The electricity charge is not at all costly in Bihar in comparison to other states," he said when reporters insisted on his response. In any case, Bihar has only 11 per cent urban areas and the rest rural, the minister said referring to the power tariff reduction demand gaining currency in big cities, following the popular decision taken by the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi yesterday.

In reply to another question, Yadav said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had, during the Independence Day speech last year, promised to improve power situation in Bihar failing which, he had said he would not seek votes from the people in the 2015 assembly polls.

"All that the Chief Minister had said then was that he will not go to the people to seek votes in case he failed to improve power scenario in Bihar by 2015. He had not promised to provide power to all households," he said. With the power situation improving and its availability expected to increase to at around 3000 MW by 2014, besides improvement in distribution and transmission infrastructure, the Chief Minister, he said, would not have to apologise to the people.

"Instead he will be in a position to seek their votes for another term in office in 2015 assembly polls," Yadav said.

PTI