Oppn parties intensify stir against power tariff hike

Visakhapatnam: Opposition parties Telugu Desam and the Left intensified their agitation against power tariff hike while the stir of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) entered second day on Monday. The CPM and the CPI staged a dharna at the Collectorate demanding the State government to roll back the proposed power charges. CPM district committee secretary Ch. Narsing Rao said never in the history of the State did any government impose a heavy burden on the people as the present Congress that levied Rs 12,723 crore burden. Another Rs 13,476 crore is being slapped as fuel surcharge on the consumers. "In the last four years, the power tariff burden on the people is around Rs 33,000 crore," Mr Narsinga Rao said. This was in addition to customer charges and service charges. The private companies were proposing the State government to collect Rs 2.60 per unit for those using less than 100 units and Rs 5.65 per unit for the consumers using more than 100 units. "The government, in the future, will hand over the entire power sector to the private companies," the senior CPM leader said. CPI district secretary JV Satyanarayana Murthy said people were already suffering from the increase in the prices of essential commodities and the power charges would place an additional burden on them. The Telugu Desam leaders, staging a dharna at the Gandhi statue near Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) office, alleged that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy was making all efforts to protect his seat and in the process ignoring the problems being faced by the common people. Local leader Vasupalle Ganesh Kumar said the Congress, before the elections, promised that it would not increase the power tariff, but went back on its word. The proposed hike in power charges was unparalleled in the history of the State, he said. The BJP city unit continued its agitation at the same venue for the second day. Former city president M Nagendra and national executive member and former MLA K Haribabu were present.