While many would oppose the use of force, it could still be argued that the financial viability of these systems does depend upon repayment, and so it is not unreasonable for public institutions to demand recovery of dues. But this is where the politics of the entire operation becomes so evident, for the much larger dues which remain unpaid by large industrialists in the Chhattisgarh region not only are being ignored, but are even in some cases forgiven.
 
This was clearly brought out during the course of a demonstration by members of the Chhattisgarhi Mukti Morcha and their supporters in the Capital in late July. Among the many important demands that were raised, was the crucial one that the application of the laws of the land should be directed to the rich and powerful interests as much as to ordinary citizens. This is especially necessary in the cases of recovery of loan repayment and power dues, because the total amount owed by all the small peasants and workers of the region would be only a small fraction of the individual dues of some important industrialists.
 
According to CMM sources, the outstanding dues of just a few important industrialists and companies amount to more than Rs. 500 crore, which is many hundreds of times the total amount that is owed by all the agriculturalists of the region put together. Thus, in terms of bad loans, the following payments are still said to be pending : more than Rs. 37 crore from Hari Khetawat of Bhilai Wires Ltd.; over Rs. 65 crore from Nemchand Shri Shrimal, owner of K. N. Oil Mill in Mahasmand; over Rs. 140 crore owed by Kailashpati Kedia of Kedia Castle Dellon Co., which has apparently "vanished" from the balance sheets. There are said to be more than Rs. 200 crore in terms of income tax arrears owed to the government by B. R. Jain and Surendra Jain of Bhilai Engineering Corporation.
 
An even more striking case is evident in the case of electricity dues. The Ambuja Cement Factory of Baloda Bazaar is said to owe more than Rs. 34 crore to the State Electricity Board. Of this, it was claimed that Rs. 17 crore has been "forgiven" by the state government of Madhya Pradesh. It this is true, it is certainly worth delving into the reasons why this company has been singled out for this favour, which at one stroke has lost the state government many times what it can hope to retrieve through forcibly extracting loan repayment from poor farmers.
 
Of course, the problem is not specific or confined to Madhya Pradesh - it reflects a much larger tendency evident all over India and at the Central level as well, of blatantly favouring certain rich and powerful elite groups and allowing them to milk the public exchequer through non-payment of dues to public institutions. The irony is that it is these same privileged groups, who are major beneficiaries of the public system at the cost of ordinary citizens, who then lead the attack against not only the smaller beneficiaries but against the public system as a whole.
 
The solution to this does not lie in privatisation, but in the greater accountability of the public system to ordinary citizens, so that the powerful few with access to decision makers at the top in government, can stop swindling the rest of us.