BENGALURU: While industry bodies were on a bandh demanding rollback of the hike in power tariff, a section of them in Bengaluru chose to meet the former chief minister and JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy and also presented a memorandum to him on Thursday.
With the BJP yet to elect its Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, the industrialists might have opted to approach Kumaraswamy to take up the issue with the Siddaramaiah government. A delegation of about 5-7 members, led by Director General of the Confederation of Indian MSME in ESDM and IT, Jairaj Srinivas, appealed to Kumaraswamy to intervene in the matter.
They said the power tariff hike will threaten the very survival of MSMEs and the industry at large, and demanded a reduction of tax. “After the recent change of guard in Karnataka, the irrational hike in power tariff is causing a lot of hardship to industry and trade,” they rued.
The power tariff hike of Rs 2.89 per unit for June, which is a prequel to a hike in the coming months, will make it worse for the MSME sector, which has been suffering right from the pre-Covid days and is alarmed by reports that the power tariff hike will be followed by a rise in property tax and guidance value, they expressed.
“According to an estimate, there are more than 5.65 lakh MSMEs consuming 2238 million units of power. The power consumption of MSMEs is around 3.51 per cent, and they use 8 per cent manpower per unit of power consumed, and in aggregate employ around 40 lakh people.
If you assume, four people per family, the number of people affected by such high tariff hikes in the extended MSME fraternity dependent on the industry is around 1.6 crore people. The government cannot and ought not to ignore the concerns of such a large section of people and especially those who contribute a major chunk of the tax revenues,” they explained.
Speaking to reporters, Kumaraswamy urged the government to reduce the 9 per cent tax imposed on electricity by 3-4 per cent. Industry, as well as the public, are in dire straits owing to exorbitant electricity rates, he said, alleging that the government is cheating people in the name of guarantees.
“The two national parties are playing a game on electricity tariff. If you look at the Congress government, it is cleverly running away from the responsibility by passing the buck on the previous BJP government,” the former CM said.
He alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah did not give an audience to the industry bodies, despite the fact that they have invested hundreds of crores in the state and employed many people. “The BJP leaders said that when they were in power, KERC had proposed a price hike, but the hike was not implemented. However, KERC alone cannot decide on a hike as it will take a decision on the proposal,” he said.
“Small-scale industries are a major contributor to the economy of the state. Doesn’t the chief minister, a self-proclaimed economist, understand this? What about job creation and investment if the government takes anti-people and anti-industry measures in the very beginning?” he questioned.