Patna, Feb. 5: Bihar Chamber of Commerce (BCC) has urged chief minister Nitish Kumar to constitute a high-level committee to probe into the affairs of Bihar State Electricity Board.
The BCC feels that the electricity board has been “passing on the burden of all its inefficiencies to the hapless consumers”.
“We have urged the chief minister to constitute a high-level committee to probe into the functioning of the board so that consumers should be safeguarded against its callous attitude,” BCC president O.P. Sah told The Telegraph today.
Explaining the reasons for seeking a high-level inquiry committee, Sah said: “It’s difficult to how the board could be at a despite getting revenue from various sources for the past few years.”
He added: “The board has been getting an annual tariff revision for the past three years, ever-increasing fuel-surcharge with retrospective effect and monthly financial assistance from the state government. Now it has proposed a hike of 50 per cent in the tariff rate. The question arises where is this huge amount of money going. That must be probed into,” Sah said.
Instead of taking steps to check transmission and distribution loss, power thefts and huge establishment cost, the board has been trying to pass on the burden of all its inefficiencies to the hapless consumers, he added.
Sah hailed the chief minister’s stand that the consumers should not be made liable to pay fuel surcharge with retrospective effect, besides providing electricity at a reasonable rate to them.
He also praised Nitish for suggesting the regulatory body that it should not allow imposition of levy such as fuel surcharge with retrospective effect. “The consumers are paying the cost for the lack of efficiency and professionalism of the board, which is engaged in power generation, transmission and distribution,” the president said.
He added that the power tariff in Bihar is higher than the neighbouring states and any further hike would add fuel to the fire. “As a result, the industry and commerce will suffer a lot thereby reducing their competitiveness vis-à-vis neighbouring states,” Sah said.
