New Delhi: Prime Minister-designate Manmohan Singh today (Man 20, 2004) said that he was against giving free power to farmers as a general policy, but the decision of Andhra Pradesh Government was "justifiable" in the wake of difficulties faced by the farmers due to severe drought in the State.

"This (not levying user charges) cannot become a norm for all public services, wherever possible we must have the listed user charges. There is also scope for cross-subsidisation," he said.

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Regarding Andhra Pradesh Government's decision to provide free power to farmers, he said it "probably is justified and we will do it in a transparent manner".

He said the State's budgetary burden, as a result of the free power supply to the farmers, was manageable. "These are practical issues, which we will tackle as we go on."

Earlier, he had said farmers in the State got a "raw deal" for many years because of drought and other policy variables.

"Therefore I think some amount of comfort was necessary, but that does not mean there should be no user charges," he added.

The newly elected Congress Chief Minister in Andhra Pradesh, Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, had run his election campaign with the promise that the farmers would be exempted from electricity bills and this would be implemented immediately if his party was voted to power.