VIJAYAWADA: Accusing the YSRC government of hiking electricity charges steeply without considering the financial problems of people, TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh on Wednesday demanded an immediate rollback of the tariff hike.
In a statement, the TDP MLC described Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy as the brand ambassador of false promises.
The tariff hike has come as a big blow to the general public this summer. By cancelling categories and bringing six slabs, the government has given a rude jolt to the common man. The power charges will now go up by 45 paise per unit for consumption of below 30 units, by 91 paise for 31 to 75 units and by `1.40 for 76 to 125 units. The hike will be `1.57 per unit for consumption of 126 to 225 units, `1.16 for 226 to 400 units and 55 paise for above 400 units, he said.
This is enough to show how the YSRC regime is punishing different sections of people for giving it ‘one chance’, he observed. Lokesh pointed out that all the money being given by Jagan to an average poor family in a year under various social welfare schemes will not be enough to pay electricity bills with the steep hike in power tariff.
The previous TDP regime handed over a power surplus State to the YSRC government, but Jagan had pushed it into deficit within no time. Unofficial power cuts are being imposed due to shortage of supply. Jagan’s ‘destructive’ policies had caused severe damage to the power sector and pushed it into an irrevocable crisis, he charged.
Condemning the hike, BJP Rajya Sabha MP GVL Narasimha Rao said the Jagan Mohan Reddy government is behaving inhumanely by increasing the power charges even for poor families. Taking to Twitter, the MP sought to know why the Chief Minister did not name the increase in electricity charges as “Jagananna Vidyuth Charjeela Vaddana”
Terming the tariff burden unbearable, Jana Sena leader Nadendla Manohar as a responsible opposition, the party will fight on behalf of the people until the YSRC government rolls back the power tariff hike.