Power Minister Milind Naik told the Legislative Assembly that the government has not taken any step for forming a power corporation in the State as yet.
“There is no reason for anxiety and uncertainty on the issue of formation of a power corporation, as there is no such proposal before the government as yet,” he said.
Naik said that as per the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) guidelines, all States, at least small states, need to have a power corporation. “However, listening to the grievance raised by the MLA and the public, we decided not to go for it,” he told the House.
The minister was replying to a calling attention motion moved by BJP MLA Nilesh Cabral who sought to know whether there are any moves by the government to form a corporation.
“Presently, budgetary supports are provided by the government to run Electricity department smoothly and that has kept the tariff under control. But if it is reversed then definitely tariff will be at par with other States which is very high for the common man,” Cabral said.
Former chief minister and Congress MLA Digambar Kamat demanded that the government should write to JEERC refusing to form the corporation. “The proposal has been pending since 2002. We had told JEERC earlier that we will not form a corporation as the department is doing a great job,” he said.
