Taking up the contentious issue at a conference of the Chief Ministers on power, presided over by Prime Minister at Delhi, Haryana Chief Minister said the state was being deprived of its rightful share of 1,282 mega watt (MW) cheap power - 290 mw from the Bhakra Nangal project, 428 mw from the Beas project and 564 mw from other projects utilising surplus Ravi-Beas waters - due to delay on part of the Centre in notifying final sharing of power benefits.

The Chief Minister said that though an inter-state agreement was signed in May 1984 to refer the issue regarding claim of different states in various hydel projects such as Anandpur Sahib, Thein Dam project, Shahpur Kandi project, Mukerian hydel scheme and UBDC (Stage-II) to the Supreme Court, the Centre had not taken any action till date. The delay had forced the state to purchase power from the grid at a higher cost, he pointed out.

Talking about power reforms in the state, the Chief Minister declared that Haryana would be the first state in the country to prepare and implement a charter of consumer rights for consumers of electricity. This charter would clearly spell out services to be provided by the power distribution companies to which each and every consumer in the state would have a legal right.

He said the Haryana State Electricity Board was restructured in August last into two separate companies - Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited and Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited - after the Haryana Electricity Reforms Act was passed in June 1997 and a loan of over Rs 2400 crore was approved by the World Bank. Also, the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission was set up in August this year, he added.

Bansi Lal said that he was opposed to setting up a Power Trading Corporation because it would not only add an unnecessary tier to the supply arrangements, but also add to the cost of electricity and bring inefficiencies in the system. He urged the Centre to urgently reconsider its notification, including hydel generation, in the group of polluting industries.

The Chief Minister urged the Centre to reschedule debts accumulated by electricity boards in the past decade to give some breathing time to enable them to become financially viable. The Union Government should guide reforming states in this matter with a clear policy as most of the debtors, which were public sector undertakings, were adopting a conservative approach, he added. In addition, the government must review the sovereign guarantee as a security package for the promoters in the states following the ICB route for inviting tenders to set up power projects.