The Samajwadi Party (SP), which is keeping the UPA on tenterhooks at the Centre over the voting in Parliament on FDI in retail, seems looking at early general elections. The SP government in Uttar Pradesh wants an additional R80,000 crore from the Centre to shore up its finances; nevertheless, it?s raining freebies for farmers in the state.
Barely a week after announcing a farm loan waiver of R1,650 crore and a R300-crore scheme for free irrigation water for farmers in the supplementary budget, the Akhilesh Yadav government on Thursday promised free electricity to farmers in the state Assembly.
The scheme, meant for 2 crore small and marginal farmers, would put an additional burden of R500-700 crore on the heavily-indebted state power utility. The running of the free-power scheme could eventually become even more expensive for the state which lacks a separate feeder for irrigation purposes. The electricity meant for irrigation could easily be misused for household purposes.
There are as many as 8.70 lakh tubewells in the state which are used for irrigation and which have a load of 700 MW. For UPPCL, with accumulated loss of R8,500 crore, this will be a suicidal step,? says Shailendra Dubey, former chief engineer at the utility and convenor of Power Employees Joint Action Committee.
Free power for farmers was an electoral promise made by the Samajwadi Party in the run up to the Assembly elections. With another general election in view, the SP does not want to let go of the opportunity to keep the rural voters by its side.
?However, given the financial repercussions that these policy decisions can bring in their wake, especially for a cash-crunched state like Uttar Pradesh, it would be interesting to see how the state government handles the tough balancing act between political repercussions and fiscal prudence,? said a source in the state government, requesting anonymity.
