Tamilnadu: Increase in Bus Fares, Power Tariff, Milk Prices Inevitable
When the AIADMK government, under the leadership Dr.Jayalalithaa, took over the governance of Tamilnadu, the economy of the state was in shambles. Many public sector undertakings, such as State Transport corporations, Tamilnadu Electricity Board, Avin,etc. were facing mounting loses due mainly to delay in revision of electricity tariff, bus fares, electricity tariff, bus fare and milk prices. The previous regime had deliberately avoided hike in the above cases fearing public out-lash and and consequent echo in the Assembly elections. While the price of every item has gone up steeply in recent years, no attempt was made to balance the impact on the bus fares, milk prices and electricity tariffs. All these three organizations come under public utility services and therefore it is the duty of the government to avoid shifting of cost escalation on the public. Yet there is a limit beyond which the government cannot absorb the escalation by way of subsidy. As the cost of production of milk and electricity has gone up severely the capacity of the government to absorb the cost escalation exceeded the limit. But the previous DMK regime took no steps to neutralise the impact of rising costs for narrow political considerations. Due to frequent increase in diesel prices by the central government and because of the hike in the prices of spares and accessories, the operational cost of the transport services soared severely.Therefore, bus fares should have to be raised reasonably. Despite such a scenario of intensifying crisis, the new government, under the leadership of Dr.Jayalalithaa, tried its best to avoid the unpleasant decision to hike rates of above the said public utility services, viz. transport, milk and electricity.
One argument is, had the government not been caught up in the distribution of so many free-bees, it would have been possible to keep down the rate of hikes to a certain extent. But, as the Chief Minister has rightly acknowledged, after many decades of economic development a large section of the population is left out of access to many modern consumer products. Moreover, she has rightly stressed that it is the responsibility of the government see that the poor people also have access to these items, viz. laptop, mixi, grinder, fan, induction stove, etc. Only then it is possible to narrow the gap bet been the haves and have nots. Therefore, it is unreasonable to persist with criticism of free-bees.
Dr.C.Murukadas
When the AIADMK government, under the leadership Dr.Jayalalithaa, took over the governance of Tamilnadu, the economy of the state was in shambles. Many public sector undertakings, such as State Transport corporations, Tamilnadu Electricity Board, Avin,etc. were facing mounting loses due mainly to delay in revision of electricity tariff, bus fares, electricity tariff, bus fare and milk prices. The previous regime had deliberately avoided hike in the above cases fearing public out-lash and and consequent echo in the Assembly elections. While the price of every item has gone up steeply in recent years, no attempt was made to balance the impact on the bus fares, milk prices and electricity tariffs. All these three organizations come under public utility services and therefore it is the duty of the government to avoid shifting of cost escalation on the public. Yet there is a limit beyond which the government cannot absorb the escalation by way of subsidy. As the cost of production of milk and electricity has gone up severely the capacity of the government to absorb the cost escalation exceeded the limit. But the previous DMK regime took no steps to neutralise the impact of rising costs for narrow political considerations. Due to frequent increase in diesel prices by the central government and because of the hike in the prices of spares and accessories, the operational cost of the transport services soared severely.Therefore, bus fares should have to be raised reasonably. Despite such a scenario of intensifying crisis, the new government, under the leadership of Dr.Jayalalithaa, tried its best to avoid the unpleasant decision to hike rates of above the said public utility services, viz. transport, milk and electricity.
One argument is, had the government not been caught up in the distribution of so many free-bees, it would have been possible to keep down the rate of hikes to a certain extent. But, as the Chief Minister has rightly acknowledged, after many decades of economic development a large section of the population is left out of access to many modern consumer products. Moreover, she has rightly stressed that it is the responsibility of the government see that the poor people also have access to these items, viz. laptop, mixi, grinder, fan, induction stove, etc. Only then it is possible to narrow the gap bet been the haves and have nots. Therefore, it is unreasonable to persist with criticism of free-bees.
Dr.C.Murukadas
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