The Odisha Rajya Bidyut Upabhokta Mahasangha (ORBUM) on Saturday called off its agitation after the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) gave its consent for a CAG audit of power distribution companies (discoms).
Mahasangha convenor Rabi Behera in a Press release informed that the OERC Secretary on Saturday came to the dharna site in front of the OERC office and intimated about the OERC’s decision.
A five member delegation comprising, Panchanan Kanungo, Kishore Jena, Prafulla Samantara, Rabi Behera and Suresh Panigrahi submitted a two-point chatter of demands.
They demanded not to hike the power tariff for the financial year 2016-17 and to audit the account of the discoms by the CAG with the OERC Secretary Guruprasad Mishra.
The Mahasangha also urged immediate collection of the unpaid Rs5,538 crore from the discoms. The Government should publish a Whitepaper on the World Bank loan of Rs459 crore which has now reached at Rs1,506 crore regarding development of infrastructure, they added.
The discoms took the money but did not develop any infrastructure for which the ATC loss is at 43 per cent, they alleged. Hence the Government should restrain itself in going for power tariff hike or else the Mahasangha would go for state wide movement.