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Kerala govt powerless in face of power crisis

A power crisis has crippled Kerala, exposing the limitations of the Communist-led government, while Chief Minister E K Nayanar and Power Minister Pisarayi Vijayan have taken senior officials of the Kerala State Electricity Board on a foreign jaunt.

The problem was most evident when Industries Minister Susheela Gopalan announced a 25 per cent relaxation in the power cut to the industries after the Government of India assured to give the state any amount of power from the central pool. Within hours of her announcement, the KSEB issued a statement refusing to pass the order in this regard.

Gopalan had announced the relaxation at a hurriedly convened press conference after she and trade union leader E Balanandan wrested an assurance from the Union power ministry to hike the state's quota. The episode, which made the industries minister cut a sorry figure, is considered the result of the deep fissures within the Communist Party of India-Marxist.

Susheela Gopalan, who had contested for the chief ministership after the May 1996 election as a trade union nominee, does not see eye to eye with Nayanar who owes his position to the rival Achutanandan group. Although the present foreign tour is intended to attract foreign investment, the chief minister did not include the industries minister in the delegation.

Two similar trips in the past one year also did not include Gopalan, who had lost the chief ministership by just one vote in the CPI-M state committee. It is another matter that substantial investments did not result from Nayanar's previous tours abroad. Nayanar is reportedly taking revenge for the trade union wing's criticism of the Government's power policy.

Balanandan, who headed a committee appointed by the government to suggest measures for the development of electricity in the state, was highly critical of the Nayanar government.

Meanwhile, managers at many of Kerala's industries feel the present episode will erode the government's credibility and affect the state's long-term industrial interests. A spokesperson of the Cochin Chamber of Commerce said no foreign industrialist would come to a state where the government is incapable of providing electricity. The present tour of the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues would not yield results, he said. The chamber has already warned that Kerala could slip into an industrial darkness in the next two to three years.

EARLIER STORY:Minister, officials globe-trot as Kerala reels under acute power crisis