EDITORIAL : THE DAILY STAR, BANGLADESH

Restoring common lowest slab

Implement it immediately

We welcome the news that the government is considering restoring the common lowest slab facility for all consumers. This is an overriding issue which we think should have been addressed much before. With the common lowest slab withdrawn since March, consumers now are faced with a steep rise in their monthly electricity bills at a time when spiraling prices of essentials are adding to their woes. In the month of Ramadan, the situation has only worsened. Therefore, instead of merely thinking about it, the government must immediately implement it and restore the common lowest slab facility in order to relieve consumers of hefty electricity bills.

Before the common lowest slab, consumers had to pay a mandatory minimum bill and additional bill for consumption above the 100 units mark. Whereas now, there has been a change in the power tariff structure according to which consumers have to pay at three different rates depending on their consumption per month without any common slab, i.e. consumers using below 100 units pay Tk 3.05 per kilowatt; those using above 100 units and below 400 units pay Tk 4.29 per unit and those above 400 units Tk 7.89 per unit.

Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has so far justified this rate by repetitively stating that it was necessary to reduce pressure on government subsidies for power generation. It has also come up with the explanation of increased production cost of power from fuel-based rental plants following rise in oil prices in international market. As we have said in this column before, increased production cost was the result of the government's policy on rental power generation, which should not be passed on to the common people. Therefore, we think the government's plan to restore the common lowest slab should be translated into reality without further delay

BERC was established to bridge the gap between the producers and consumers of power. However, we have so far found it concerned only with the producers' concerns and not with the consumers' plight. We hope that it will also be equally concerned with the consumers' woes.

Pranab Mukherjee, India's new president

His experience gives the office a new sheen

The election of Pranab Mukherjee as president of India is important for a couple of reasons. In the first place, it is reflective of the clout the veteran Bengali politician has had on Indian politics, given his experience in government. In the second, it promises to be a marked change from how the presidency has been looked upon in the past five years under Pratibha Patil, against whom allegations of impropriety have been levelled on a fairly regular basis. Mukherjee's elevation to the presidency is also significant in light of the fact that he did not have the unanimous support of all political parties. His rival P.A. Sangma did not have a chance against him, of course. Even so, Mukherjee would have been happier had a wholesale consensus built up around him. There is too the belated support he drew from West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

All said and done, though, president-elect Pranab Mukherjee is the one man who at this point can restore Rashtrapati Bhavan to the sanctified image it has generally had since India attained freedom in 1947. Mukherjee steps into a presidency which in the past has been exalted by the presence of Rajendra Prasad, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Zakir Hussain, V.V. Giri, Shankar Dayal Sharma and others of equally high intellectual brilliance. In a sense, Mukherjee has a certain edge over them in that he arrives at the presidency after substantive experience gained at such important ministries as finance, defence and foreign affairs. A Mukherjee presidency, therefore, will be one that cannot be taken for granted despite the holder of the office traditionally being a figurehead. For once in a long time, India could look forward to an activist president who has a good record as a consensus builder.

We in Bangladesh welcome the rise of Pranab Mukherjee to India's presidency. In every position he has served, he has been careful to understand Dhaka's concerns when it came to dealing with Delhi on various bilateral issues. His position on a sharing of the waters of common rivers and on other matters has been one of respect to Bangladesh's people and political leadership. Like the people of India, we in Bangladesh look forward to a thriving, throbbing presidency under Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi.