The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara has said that the BJP government has given a new year gift to the people of Uttarakhand by increasing the power tariff and prices of the cooking gas cylinder. He said that the BJP governments at centre and the State are not concerned with the issues of the general public. The PCC president claimed that apart from increasing the rates of electricity the State government is planning to increase the rates of sewerage and drinking water which would increase burden on the people already reeling under acute price rise. He said that in lieu of the huge mandate given to it the BJP has burdened people by increasing the prices of cooking gas, drinking water and power from time to time and it has now further increased the prices of power and cooking gas on the very first day of the New Year.

 The PCC president said that the State government should answer as to why it has paid Crores of rupees to Gujarat based companies without even purchasing power from them. He said that the State government has again proved that it is only engaging in providing profit to its industrialist friends. Mahara said that the government has failed completely in controlling the spiralling prices and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his associates are making fun of the poor people of the country. Terming the decision to increase power tariffs as dictatorial Mahara demanded that the State government should immediately roll back its decision. He said that the Congress party would oppose the decision and would hold protests in all district and Mahanagar offices on Tuesday.