Chandigarh, December 25, 2019 (Yes Punjab News)
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today condemned the Congress government for affecting the eighteenth power tariff increase in less than three years, saying this would cause untold misery to the common man and would make industry unviable in the State.
Disclosing this in a statement here, former minister Sikander Singh Maluka said with an additional power tariff hike of .36 per unit which included increased additional electricity duty domestic consumers would have to pay Rs 8.37 per unit while the industry would be charged Rs 7.85 per unit.
Stating that this was a betrayal of the promises made to the people, Mr Maluka said chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had promised to reduce domestic power tariff after taking over office and had even promised power at a landing cost of Rs 5 per unit to the industrial sector.
He said power tariff had been increased by more than 30 per cent ever since the Congress government had come to power and that the common man would not be able to bear this burden. He said the industrial sector had been made unviable by repeated power tariff hikes and now there was no hope of fresh investment in the State.
Mr Maluka said this was not all. Scheduled caste and backward caste consumers were facing the brunt of the power hikes the most. “These consumers are being presented with inflated bills with the government removing the subsidy for backward consumers and not honouring the commitment made to SC consumers”.
He said even poor consumers were being forced to pay charges whether they consumed power or not. He said this was in stark contrast to the tenure of the previous SAD-BJP government which had allocated Rs 1,000 crore for SC and BC consumers to extend free power supply to them.
Asking the government not to transfer its inefficiencies to the people, Mr Maluka said Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal also should lead by example and should reduce his own power costs by dismantling the 27 air conditioners and 17 geysers he had installed at his residence.
He also demanded that the government present a white paper on the expenditures incurred by the Power department saying the people should not be forced to pay for the profligacy of the government and its ministers and officials.
