Electricity Amendment Bill anti-people, anti-federal: Kejriwal
New Delhi, Sep 29 : Calling the proposed amendment to the Electricity Act 2003 'anti-people' and 'anti-federal', Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said it would lead to a sharp hike in the electricity bills of the common man.
The bill would lead to huge tariff hikes and will result in complete control of the Centre over the power sector and total exclusion of the states, he told the media here.
"The amendment will benefit selected private players. The power tariffs of small and medium domestic consumers will increase at least two to three times immediately all across India," Kejriwal said.
"Presently, two of the three members of the electricity regulatory commissions are state government's choice. The amendment proposes a six-member selection committee with only one state government nominee, four Central government nominees and one sitting Supreme Court judge," he said.
"In effect, the Central government will decide the constitution of all State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs)," he said.
The Bill, expected to be passed in the winter session of the Parliament, just a few months before elections, will also increase crony capitalism and monopoly, Kejriwal said.
"The Centre will be able to give benefits to the power companies close to them. The timing of these amendments is suspicious. It is rumoured that these power companies would return favours by providing funds for elections," he said.
Claiming that the Delhi Government has provided the cheapest and uninterrupted power supply, Kejriwal said his government has not hiked tariffs in the last three years.
"The amendments propose phasing out of cross-subsidies. Presently, all across India, higher tariffs are charged from industrial and commercial consumers to subsidise domestic consumers and farmers.
"After this amendment, there will be just one rate of electricity for all consumers irrespective of load, consumption or type of consumer," he said.
"It is proposed to reduce cross-subsidy to 20 per cent immediately and progressively eliminate it within three years. This would lead to a huge increase in tariffs all across the country immediately," he added.
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Karnataka plans 100-acre aqua park to boost fishing sector
Bengaluru: Karnataka is planning to set up a 100-acre integrated aqua park aimed at promoting fishing. The proposed park will offer end-to-end facilities, including fish farming, storage facilities and sports fishing.
According to a report published by Deccan Herald on Sunday, a senior official from the Karnataka Fisheries Department said the aqua park is part of a concept introduced by the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The idea is to develop hubs that support the entire fishing value chain from fish seed production and feed to processing and market access.
According to the plan, the aqua park will include nine major facilities like farming of fish food, generating of fish seeds, development of fish seeds, fish farming, cold processing units, development of ornamental fish for aquariums, well-equipped market, fish transport facilities, and sports fishing.
The fisheries department has shortlisted three locations for the project, Byndoor in Udupi, Malavalli in Mandya and Almatti in Bijapur. One of these locations will be finalised based on land availability, after which a Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be prepared and sent to the Union government for approval.
“We have received proposals for three locations. All of them have water bodies close by and hence there is a demand for fishing. However, space is the main criteria. If we are able to get 100 acres, we will go ahead and prepare a detailed project report (DPR) to be submitted to the central ministry,” DH quoted Dinesh Kumar Kaller, director, Karnataka fisheries department as saying.
At Malavalli, near Gaganachukki, around 75 acres of land has been identified and a request has been sent to the Revenue Department. The revenue department has said that the land belongs to the forest department and talks are on. We are also looking at other locations, Kaller reportedly said.
As per the report, at present, only 11 states have an aqua park approved under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) and Karnataka is confident that its proposal would also be accepted soon.
