The Hindu Business Line : Trifurcation of MSEB unlikely before deadline

THOUGH the Maharashtra Government is yet to take a formal decision on whether to ask the Centre for another six months to trifurcate the State Electricity Board, the belief amongst politicians is that it would be better to defer it till the Assembly elections are over.

The fear is that a trifurcation before the June 10 deadline would mean handing over an issue to the Opposition on a platter. Opposition parties are already saying that a trifurcation of the loss-making, capacity-starved State-run utility would automatically lead to its privatisation.

The plea of the State Governnment is that after a report by a consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers, it has realised that the steps taken to break-up the MSEB was complicated and there was not sufficient time to complete the task. However, informal consultations between the Maharashtra officials and the Centre have led to the impression here that the State may not get an extra six months.

A top official told the Business Line that ``we have been told that we have already had a year at our disposal to deal with the matter and we did not.'' This, he said, ``was an oral suggestion; we have nothing in writing yet.'' Notwithstanding this, Maharashtra is hoping that it may get a last minute reprieve after the new Government — whether the National Democratic Alliance itself or any other arrangement — comes into being later this month.

``We still don't know what it would be, but at the official level, the inclination is not to give us more time. I wonder if the trifurcation into companies for generation, transmission and distribution would be in place by the deadline,'' the official said.