Tau Rises As Bansi Bungles On Prohibition, Power

Voters in Haryana appear to be disenchanted with the Bansi Lal governments failure to strictly implement prohibition and the measures it has taken to defray the revenue loss due to prohibition. There is an anti-Bansi Lal wave of sorts in the state which could cost the Haryana Vikas Party-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance some of the seats it won in 1996.

The promise of prohibition brought Bansi Lal to power about one and a half year back; today, it is proving to be his weakest point.

Some moves that have gone against the government are: the hike in sales tax of certain items, the hike in electricity charges and the simultaneous abolition of the multi-tier slab system for electricity charges for groundwater drawn for irrigation purposes. What has angered the people the most is the non-availability of electricity during prime irigation time i.e., morning till the evening.

 

Besides general inflation, the people are also upset with the government for the hike in diesel price and bus fares. All these grievances have prompted them to turn once again to the 85-year-old Devi Lal (beteer known as Tau) who had rescued the farmers by waiving farm loans during the National Front government in 1989.

This time too Devi Lal has made populist promises like free electricity for drinking water and subsidised electricity to farmers and domestic users. In addition he has also promised to reinstate the slab system to help poor farmers. Under the old slab system, farmers drawing water from a greater depth used to pay less per unit of electricity than those drawing water from a shallow depth.

This was intended to cross subsidise farmers from Southern Haryana (Mahendragarh and Faridabad Lok Sabha consituencies) who drew water from up to 300-400 ft against those drawing from 30-40 ft in other parts. While farmers in these areas use diesel generators in absence of regular electricity, those in southern Haryana cannot do so as it becomes a costly proposition.

Using diesel costs us at least double of what we pay for electricity and hence we now fully irrigate the field only three to four times against seven times earlier, Ramavtar Yadav and Virendra Yadav said. They claimed that producitivity has, thus, come down from by at least 40 per cent.

The Congress has promised similar doles. Members of Bansi Lals cabinet have also promised abolition of the slab system after elections. Rural folks, however, hold that it is only the Tau who can fulfil all the promises.

They are not overly bothered about the economics of such subsidy raj and ready to ignore that this election was for parliament and not for the state legislative assembly. If Punjab can get free electricity why cant Haryana, is the usual reference.

When Devi Lal was Haryanas chief minister, the state used to get electricity throughout the day, says Hoshiar Singh Pahalwan of Ismaila village. Devi Lal is rural Haryanas voice and we simply love him, he said.

In urban Haryana, people are aware of the governments limitations and acknowledge that subsidy cannot be an alternative to sound economy. But they see prohibition and other populist schemes on similar lines. Reader of economics in Rohtak university, IS Hooda, pointed out that Punjab was facing severe economic crisis due to the subsidy raj.

However, he argued that some form of subsidy was essential for farmers of southern Haryana as otherwise the economy of the region would collapse.

The government could expedite the resolution of the inter-state river dispute and increase the flow of canal water to decrease farmers dependence on groundwater for irrigation. Regular supply of electricity in urban areas and its shortage in rural areas was creating a rural-urban divide, he claimed.

The second most important issue in the state is prohibition. Officially banned liquor is reportedly easily available everywhere on a preminm. The same liquor bottle which we used to get for Rs 110 is now available for Rs 250, said Rati Ram of Sindhu Khera village (Hissar). The unemployed youth have resorted to liquor smuggling and they get protection from local politicians close to the government, he said.

Prohibition has definitely helped reduce hooliganism, claimed a shopkeeper at Sonepat. However, petty crime has been replaced by organised crime by mafias, he said. Its harmful effect would be visible soon, he added.

Women, particulary the elderly ones, still support prohibition but they want the government to deal strictly with law violaters. Satnami Bai of Gurgaon wants the government to act tough.