Author: Sugata Srinivasaraju
Publication: Outlook
Date: April 24, 2006
URL: http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20060424&fname=Karnataka+%28F%29&sid=1
Introduction: Power to the people-rustic Kannadigas
give it a new meaning
Padma of Kylanchahalli in Ramanagaram taluk
of Bangalore Rural district is not an official meter-reader employed by the
Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM).
She, like the village grocer, is an independent entrepreneur, and is called
a gram vidyuth pratinidhi (GVP). When it comes to electricity, she is the
one-stop contact point for both her fellow villagers and the BESCOM. She reads
power meters, issues bills, collects dues, recommends disconnections and keeps
vigil on power theft, besides being a prime communication channel between
the villagers and the BESCOM on pertinent matters.
Two years since Padma has been a GVP, villagers
acknowledge that both their time and money have been saved. "We now don't
have to go all the way to the taluk headquarters in Ramanagaram, stand in
long queues for the entire day. There's no waste of time or money," says
Rame Gowda, a local. Also, the streamlined system has trimmed their bills,
which are now issued regularly every month.
Earlier, the bills would come once in four
or six months-there would always be huge arrears, notes Gowda. "A power
failure in my house, and you had to rely on the linesman's fancy to rectify
it-that could take weeks. Now the average response time to any problem is
under two days."
The BESCOM too is happy because its average collection has gone up by more
than 30 per cent after the GVP system was put in place in March 2003. Its
transformer losses too have been reduced to less than 10 per cent in rural
areas, plus there is far greater accountability in the system. Like Padma,
there are 3,425 GVPs across 5,605 panchayats of Karnataka covered by five
power distribution companies. This would mean that more than 80 per cent of
the state's villages have been witness to such a mini-revolution that is happening
for the first time in the country.
But what is it that makes a GVP enthusiastic
when it comes to collecting dues? The motivation is linked to a sound business
model. Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) managing director
Bharat Lal Meena, who is the brain behind the entire system, explains: "We
set baseline targets for the GVPs. If their revenue collection is only up
to the baseline, they only get their retainership fee, which is calculated
on the number of power installations in their panchayat. But if they cross
the target, they get an 8 per cent commission on the extra amount collected.
Further, we offer a Rs 100 incentive per installation regularised. Any fall
in revenue collection below the target amount during a month would lead to
a penalty of two per cent deduction of the fees." Besides, GVPs who continue
to perform badly are changed. But according to Meena, 95 per cent of the GVPs
across the state have crossed their targets every month, in fact even doubled
it. On an average, a GVP takes home Rs 4,500 a month. Now, that's a lot of
money in a village.
As for Padma, her baseline target for March
2006 was Rs 55,083, but she collected Rs 1 lakh. Similarly, Renukambha of
Ittamadu gram panchayat was given a target of Rs 40,942, but she collected
Rs 1.25 lakh in March '06. Reveals Dhanalakshmi of Jalamangala panchayat:
"In the two years I have been a GVP, I have always met my targets. My
retainership is Rs 3,200, but normally I take home Rs 4,500 per month."
Interestingly, more than one-fourth of the state's GVPs are women.
Kashiram Pawar, BESCOM's assistant executive
engineer in Ramanagaram, says the system has worked basically because a GVP
is an insider to the village. "He or she is a local person and has a
personal rapport with everybody. Since GVPs are not government employees,
they are always on the job. A GVP constantly tracks the money a fellow villager
made, say, by selling milk or vegetables or silk cocoons on a given day.
The same evening, he would meet him and convince
him to be fair with his power dues. Earlier, one section of Ramanagaram had
150 villages with three official meter readers, now each panchayat has one."
There are certain minimum eligibility criteria
that KPTCL has set for recruitment of GVPs: They should be a resident of the
panchayat, aged 18-38; trained in an iti or passed SSLC/PUC; and provide 15
days revenue billing as bank guarantee. There is an MoU signed between the
GVP and the company. "With this one project, we have addressed several
vital issues like power reforms, energy audit, rural employment, women's empowerment,
decentralisation of power and, definitely, high profits for electricity companies,"
gushes Meena. Karnataka is the only state in India to have implemented this
successfully. "The genesis of the idea was in Orissa, but what failed
there worked here. Now Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are keen to replicate this
model. We are helping them," he adds.
The huge success of the GVP system has inspired
Karnataka so much so that it is now gearing up for a bold experiment in its
rural power sector. The state will introduce retail sale of electricity in
villages for the first time in the country. Rural youth, who were trained
to function as GVPs, would now be roped in for retail sale of power. They
would be rechristened as micro-feeder franchisees-meaning they will act like
a mini power-supplying firm with authorisation to undertake retail sale of
power to consumers. KPTCL would get monthly readings of the meters installed
at the 11-kv feeders (source of bulk supply to the entire village) and meters
fitted to the transformers (source of supply to small colonies) to know the
amount of power sold. The KPTCL officials would find out if the retail franchisees
have collected more revenue than collected earlier by the companies. The additional
revenue collected by the retail franchisee would be shared between the power
supplying company and the franchisee. Hence, the retailers have to perform
well, points out Meena. "A pilot project has been running in the Hubli
area for one year. There are already 50 people operating as power retailers
there. We will very soon extend the concept to other parts of the state,"
he says. A clear case of power to the people.
