Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Srikant Jena has sought a clarification from the State Government over the recent decision of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) for a hike in power tariff.
Reacting to the tariff hike in Odisha, Jena said, "The power tariff in Delhi is cheaper than Odisha though Delhi has no coal of its own and is importing power. The power users in Delhi are paying `2.53 till 400 units. But people in Odisha would pay `2.50 per unit for the first 50 units which goes up to `4.49 a unit in the slab of 300-400 units."
The Government is not recovering dues worth Rs 3,000 crore from the private companies that were previously engaged in electricity distribution and is needlessly burdening ordinary consumers and farmers with tariff hike, Jena rued.
Jena said, “The per capita income of Delhi denizens are 10 times more and power consumption rate is 20 times more than Odisha people. Still then Delhists are paying less power bill than us. But people of Odisha are paying the double.”