Registering strong opposition to the proposals for increasing power tariff once again, the Congress on Tuesday said that the step taken by the BJP Government was anti-people.
In a party press statement issued here on Tuesday, the state Congress spokesperson, Sushil Anand Shukla said that the common power consumers of the state were already pestered with the increased power tariff. It is the right of the residents of Chhattisgarh, the state which is rich in water resources and coal mines, to get cheap electricity, but because of the mismanagement and corruption by the BJP government, the residents of the state have been deprived of cheap electricity, he added. He said that the Congress would strongly protest increase of a single paisa in the electricity tariff and the Chhattisgarh state electricity company, with a view to compensate the loss incurred by the power companies from the consumers, had sent the proposal to increase power tariff to the Electricity Regulatory Commission. It had invited claims and objections in this regard by May 20, he added.
He said that the BJP is going to increase power tariff for the third time in a year. Nine months before the government had made 60 to 100 per cent increase in the power tariff. Earlier the power tariff was Rs1.80 per unit up to 100 units, but the government had hiked the rate to Rs2.10 per unit in June 2012. Similarly, for 100 to 200 units the rate was Rs1.90 per unit, which was increased to Rs2.40 per unit, the rate for 200 to 500 units was Rs2.40 per unit, which was hiked to Rs3.40 and the rate for 500 to 700 units the earlier rate was Rs3.15 per unit and the government had increased it to Rs5.85 per unit, he said.