Experts say that the crisis in the power sector is due to faulty government policy and unfair pricing. The opinion was the upshot of the debate by experts who were speaking at a seminar on ‘Power Crisis in Andhra Pradesh and Challenges’, organised by the Neelam Rajashekhara Reddy Research Centre on March 17. They pointed out that it was the State government that had brought about the financial mess by not paying dues of Rs 25,000 crore to the discoms.
When the government has announced free power to the sector, it is the governmentÂ’s responsibility to pay the discoms for extending it, MV Rajeshwara Rao, General Secretary of Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce said. As this has not being done, the discoms had run up a huge debt in unpaid dues, he added.
The absence of a comprehensive power policy was evident in the manner in which the government was promoting private entrepreneurs in the sector. It is the governmentÂ’s irresponsible attitude that has led to this serious situation in the power sector, said Director of the Research Centre T Lakshminarayana. In the absence of government accountability, the involvement of people in power policy decisions is also negligible, power policy analyst Shankar Sharma said.
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