Dharmendra Jore: BJP's power struggle

For BJP the wind is blowing the other way Fighting on multiple fronts to neutralize negative public opinion on demonetization Goods and Services Tax GST rising inflation a perennial agrarian crisis and several other issues the governments in the Centre and especially in Maharashtra are now faced with an acute electricity deficit The state which became power surplus after an unprecedented struggle over the last one decade is back to square oneWhy is this happening all of a sudden At this point in time a definite reason is the result of ill planning and management by the Union Coal Ministry Maharashtra Energy Department and statecontrolled electricity generation and distribution companies Its not just the government companies that have suffered but private generators in Maharashtra are also blaming the coalcrisis for reducing electricity production considerablyTall claims butWhen Piyush Goyal a Mumbaikar took charge as power and coal minister in Delhi in mid2014 the power crisis in Maharashtra was on its way to recovery Having one individual to handle power and coal ministry was seen as a masterstroke because Indias electricity generation largely depends on coalfired thermal generation stationsThe UPA1 and UPA2 had seen the worst on this front and put in place a longterm plan for expanding by leaps and bounds But there were serious issues such as the Coalgate scam which hindered that growth The BJP government said it had inherited problems from the UPA regime It vowed to better coal production and improve power production so much so that no household in the country would remain without an electricity connectionTo increase coal supply Goyals ministry came up with a policy of rationalizing supply linkages It so happened that in auctions some states were allotted coal from mines that were far off while coal was available at a much shorter distance either within that state itself or in neighbouring states Rationalization would take fuel faster to the plants and also save cost of transportation A provision for swapping coal between companies also helped However while quicker transportation remained a major worry the policy was tweaked and coalcarrying trains started getting priority on railway tracks Yet Maharashtra and other states are in dire straits Has planning gone haywire despite tall claims of executionThree years later the opposition is making charges against the government by saying that the shortage is being created with the sole purpose of allowing a BJP sympathiser to import coal mined abroad by his company India has the fifth largest coal reserve in the world But even then our coal production falls short of actual requirements and India needs to import it Why Its time the government responds to allegationsScurrying for coverMaharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd MSEDCL set a record of sorts this March by supplying an alltime high of 24000 mega watts to its consumers Four months later the same company is scurrying for cover as the government is under attack Energy minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule has blamed everything on coal suppliers whereas the Western Coalfields Limited WLC which supplies the state generation company half of its total coal requirement has refuted allegationsWLC says coal supply has been uninterrupted in the past three months and it is the state companys responsibility to carry coal faster to the plants Its not as if WCL and state have confronted each other for the first time In the CongressNCP regime the two have fought a fierce legal battle over the same issues when the state was reeling under prolonged power outagesGeneration officials say that despite several orders by courts National Green Tribunal and Competition Commission WCL continues to supply inferior quality coal to power utilities If so then why is Bawankule not taking this up to the bosses in Delhi Why is CM Devendra Fadnavis who was on the forefront in attacking the CongressNCPs failure in managing the power crisis not getting Goyal to rap WCLThe irony of powerIrony is that Bawankule who once boasted about making Maharashtra power surplus is now appealing to people to save power because his supply is insufficient It is beyond comprehension that the fourtime MLA who had understood energy department much before he began heading it because his family firms have been working in the electricity sector for long did not foresee the problem If the minister couldnt see it coming what were babus in the company and Mantralaya doing Some 14 state plants are currently shutBawankule is known for punishing officials at the drop of a hat He once suspended a juniorlevel employee for wearing sunglasses and a pair of jeans on duty But we dont see any action coming in now because it isnt any minnow involved this time but its a host of guys at the top politicians bureaucrats and technocrats includedDharmendra Jore is political editor midday He tweets dharmendrajore Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom