Letter to BS: Discoms are in deplorable state, need urgent action

This refers to the editorial “Power crisis” (July 9). The fact that “discoms can pose risk for state government finances” should ring alarm bells for the Centre as well as the state governments. The harsh reality is that on an average, power utilities account for over 60 per cent of the total outstanding guarantees. A deplorable state of affairs, to say the least, and there is need for urgent action.

The root causes indeed are the pathetic operational efficiency of most state-owned thermal plants and the totally flawed power-pricing strategy that discoms are forced to follow. One doesn’t need to be either an economist or a genius to see that the opaque and grossly unfair pricing is due to the political leadership’s desire to nurture vote banks. 

Please allow me to differ with you on the issue of keeping thermal plants viable to meet the overall power demand. This suggestion of policy makers to find a balance is a sign of weakness and will only postpone the demise of inefficient thermal plants. Governments will have to bite the bullet and allow solar power to have a full unrestrained play. The promise of buying power at Rs 2.36 per unit is just too good to ignore. Given the freedom besides grid access and parity, the share of solar power in our total demand can improve dramatically.

Krishan Kalra     Gurugram

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