Already grossly overstaffed with a workforce of over 40,000 the ailing state electricity board has decided to induct 5,000 more employees to its ranks of class four employees and junior engineers within the next two months itself.

According to official sources, some assistant engineers too will be appointed to meet the projected shortage of trained technical manpower.And while this step will enhance the organisation's already hefty salaries and wages bill, to Kalyan Singh government has failed to muster up the courage to effect a long overdue hike in power tariffs proposed by the UPSEB. Following the BJP's rout in the state assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi recently, the party's allies in the UP government have started flexing their political muscles withrenewed vigour thereby making it impossible for the Kalyan Singh government to take any steps which may further endanger its existence, sources said.

Not surprisingly, therefore, the state Cabinet at a recent meeting turned down the UPSEB's proposal to step up power tariffs by 12 per cent on all categories of consumers. The move would have fetched the heavily-indebted state electricity board an additional revenue of Rs 500 crore annually.

Instead of resorting to this economically prudent measure, the state government has directed UPSEB to launch an all-out drive to collect arrears fro defaulting consumers amounting to well over Rs 2,000 crore of which the bulk, a whopping Rs 1,400 crore are from government departments themselves.

A recent survey conducted by the SEB reveals that outstandings from the state's own undertakings, offices, commercial complexes, local bodies like municipalities and corporations account for almost 48 per cent of the outstandings at Rs 1,434 crore. This includes a hefty Rs829 crore from local government bodies, Rs 162 crore from government-owned industries and another Rs 75 crore from the Lucknow Municipal Corporation.