The government says failure to revise the power tariff regularly has proved to be a drain on its resources. | Photo Credit: T_Singaravelou more-in The government will not be able to roll back power tariff increase, Minister for Power R. Kamalakannan told the Assembly on Friday. To a question raised by V. Ramachandran (Independent), the Minister said the decision to increase the power tariff was taken jointly by the Electricity Department and the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission, a statutory body for Goa and other Union Territories. The government could not take an independent decision in the matter, he said. The power tariff had not been changed between 2002 and 2010. This resulted in a drain on the financial resources of the department. The department bought power for ?3.84 a unit and sold it at ?5.27 a unit. The department had to meet infrastructure and salary expenditure from its own revenue, the Minister said. Compared to other States, the tariff in the Union Territory was less even after imposing the increase. For example, the Kerala government charged ?345 for the first 100 units. Whereas, Puducherry charged only ?190 for the first 100 units. The consumers here paid only ?109 for the first 100 units after the government decided to subsidise power consumption up to 100 units. When the member repeated his request to reduce the charges, the Minister said “Sorry I will not be able to do so.” Delimitation exercise To a question raised by T. Djeamourthy (Congress) on the delimitation exercise, Minister for Local Administration A. Namassivayam said the government would soon convene a meeting of MLAs to address their grievances. The number of wards had come down to 116 from 123. While the number of wards in Puducherry Municipality had come down from 42 to 37, it had spiked from 37 to 43 in Oulgaret. The wards in Karaikal and Mahe had decreased while in Yanam it had increased. Mr. Namassivayam said the government had approached the Supreme Court seeking an extension of the deadline set for conducting local body elections. The Minister had assured the House to get drinking water from Ousteri Lake. He was replying to a supplementary question by R. Siva of the DMK. Ashok Anand (AINRC), who raised the issue of drinking water supply, said the government should draw up a long-term plan to address the problem in the Union Territory. Borewells had been drilled everywhere causing depletion in water table.

Stay updated with all the Latest Puducherry headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.