Hyderabad: Undeterred by the World Bank's critical comments on his Government's free power policy, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy today (Jun 26, 2004) asserted that the programme would stay on course and hoped it would not affect any of the schemes funded by the World Bank.

"Generally, the World Bank is not favorable to the concept of free power. But, that does not mean we should close our eyes to the distress of farmers. Everyone has to see the reason and I hope World Bank also sees the reason," he said.

Reddy's observations re-affirming commitment to his Government's pet programme came a day after the World Bank country director Michael Carter disapproved of the freebies to farmers and spoke of the Bank's plans to review its projects in AP.

Carter, along with the Bank's Vice-President for South Asia Praful Patel, had told reporters in Delhi yesterday (Jun 25, 2004) that free power policy would adversely affect the State economy and could cause severe damage to the environment.

"Ultimately, the distress of farmers has to be taken into consideration while taking policy decisions. At the same time, we will ensure that electricity board is not starved of funds, Reddy, who made free power promise the party's USP in the recent elections, said.