Council proceedings stalled over FSA

Hyderabad: Opposition parties on Thursday in unison disrupted the proceedings of the Legislative Council demanding withdrawal of hike in power charges and surcharges. The disruptions forced chairman A Chakrapani to adjourn the House until Friday. The chairman, after disallowing adjournment motion on power crisis proposed by opposition parties, said that the government would make a statement in the House on Friday. When the opposition leaders raised protest slogans over the fresh burden of Rs 750 crore being passed onto consumers as Fuel Surcharge Adjustment (FSA) which would be implemented from April 1, he said and sought to dispel fears that the government has not taken a decision yet. Despite his appeal to cooperate on the motion of thanks giving to Governor ESL Narasimhan's speech, the House was chaotic for some time. Then, Leader of Opposition Dadi Veerabhadra Rao intervened and alleged that the government was resorting to anti-people policies through hike in power charges and surcharges. The government was unable to meet the energy needs of domestic sector and industries. It was on a looting spree by hiking prices, he said. The opposition parties including TDP, TRS, CPI, CPM, MIM and others staged protests at the podium. Even Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu's efforts to pacify them proved to be futile. On the chairman's direction, Congress member MS Prabhakar proposed a debate on the motion but the opposition parties did not relent. This resulted in a heated argument among ruling and opposition parties and with no other option, Chakrapani adjourned the House until Friday. Sridhar Babu said that the government has not yet taken a decision and was ready to give explanation on the issue. It is the constitutional obligation of the House to debate on thanks giving motion and members ought to go in tandem with it, he added. Agriculture Minister K Lakshminarayana found fault with opposition parties for trying to get the House adjourned. Earlier, the opposition parties took out a protest rally to the Council from Gunpark.