20 hours of power supply : Vague choice of expression
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 29, 2012 -

It may be the Chief Minister's choice of expression but there is something amusing in the manner in which he said that the Government is working on an action plan to provide 20 hours of power supply at the maximum in a day to the people of Manipur.

Choice of words or expression is interesting for it can be open to different interpretations but common sense tells us that the implication in the Chief Minister's statement is that the maximum of three/four hours of power supply that the people of Manipur, correction Imphal, are getting in a day is far too less.

It is a big leap, no doubt, from three/four hours to 20 hours, but then the minimum duration or hours of power supply that the Government aims to provide to the people would be interesting.

If a maximum of 20 hours of power supply in a day is going to be the benchmark that the Government has set its eyes upon then it is anybody's guess how many hours of power supply the people can expect at the least in a single day.

Our scepticism is not without foundation. In the last ten years of the Congress led SPF Government in the State, it has witnessed and lived through two five year plans, the 10th and 11th, with the latter set to end on March 31 this year.

Power sector was one of the core issues mentioned in the last two Five Year Plans and far from capitalising on the supposed ‘stability’ that the Congress led Government here has laid claim to, the power supply scenario has gone from bad to worse.

Far from deriving anything substantial from the last two Five Year Plans, the Government has been falling back on the done to death alibi, failure of the consumers to cough up their power tariff. In this technology driven age, this sounds like a stale joke, which at its best may be interpreted as 'refining the art of passing the buck.'

Ten years is not a joke. A ten year old child at the time that the Congress led SPF Government first came to power would today be an adult, eligible to cast his or her vote and entitled to a driving license.

This is a long journey in the life of an individual but not to the Government when it comes to providing the most basic of needs to the people-power supply, primary education, potable water and health and in the process turning the understanding of stability on its head. And this sucks !

Money is needed for power supply. This is simple logic. And seen in this context, the statement of the Chief Minister that his Government is working on an action plan to provide power supply at the maximum of 20 hours in a single day to the people cannot be seen in isolation of power tariff collection.

That the Power Department and its employees have woefully failed to dispense with its duty of collecting electricity tax is a given, it does not need rocket science technology to understand this. Given this situation, has the Government worked out any mechanism to ensure that taxes can be collected effectively ?

That the drive that was launched some time back by the Power Department to penalise defaulters ended in a dud and only amounted to playing to the gallery is there for all to see and digest.

Enough has also been said of the pre-paid system, which is being implemented in some commercial areas of Imphal, and the need is to look beyond this. Talks of roping in the services of local clubs and voluntary organisations in the power tax collection drive have remained just that, talks bordering on verbal diarrhoea.

The action plan that the Chief Minister was talking about needs to be spelt out more clearly. For one it falls in line with the priority areas identified by O Ibobi Singh, moments after he took oath of office and secrecy as the Chief Minister for the third consecutive term.

And secondly there can be no excuse for subjecting the people to a daily dose of three/four hours of power supply in a day, with maybe 7 or 8 hours in a day being the best performance dished out in the last ten years.

Choice of expression or not, a maximum of 20 hours of power supply in a day, goes against the grain, when the minimum duration of power supply the Government intends to provide to the people is vague or has not been spelt out at all.

Or maybe this expression stems from a vague idea on how to ensure the availability of some of the most basic of needs to the people.