Revoke hiked power tariff charges: TDP

Kurnool: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Kurnool parliament president Somisetty Venkateswarlu alleged that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has ignored the promises given to people in 2019 election manifesto. In the 4-year rule, the power tariff charges have been hiked to seven times mounting huge burden on the people. Staging a protest in front of AP State Power Distribution Corporation Limited here on Monday, he said Jagan would face serious consequences in the ensuing 2024 elections and demanded the government to withdraw the hiked power charges immediately.

Prior to 2019 election, as an opposition leader, Jagan came down heavily on the then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu for abnormally hiking the power charges.

He said Jagan also asked people to give him a one chance and he would make efforts to reduce power charges. The irony is Jagan after coming to power, hiked the power charges for seven times in a span of four years breaking the backbone of farmers and common people, he said. The farmers were also facing huge problems as the government has fixed meters to the motors, he pointed out.

He alleged that the Central government has clearly stated that there was no need to fix smart meters. But Jagan without heeding the instructions of Centre has fixed the smart meters. Jagan also hiked charges on power, RTC fares, liquor rates, sand and property tax and on collection of house waste.

Despite collecting huge amount of taxes, he said the government was not able to pay the salaries to employees.

He demanded the government to withdraw the hiked power charges else they will intensify the protest across the state. In a similar manner, the leaders of all mandals in Kurnool and Nandyal districts have also staged protests in front of power stations. TD leaders, PG Gopinath, Nandi Mandu, Chandrakala Bai, Sangeeva Lakshmi, S Mumtaj, Maruthi Sarma, Babu Raj and K Paramesh participated in the protests.