YSRCP MLAs warn Govt over power tariff hike

Hyderabad, March 20 : Demanding the Kiran Kumar Reddy-led Congress Government to release a white paper on the power crisis immediately, YSRCP MLAs on Wednesday warned the Government they will continue to agitate in the assembly till the hiked power tariff and surcharges are reduced and undeclared power cuts done away with.

Speaking to media persons outside the assembly after the House is adjourned, YSRCLP Deputy leader Sobha Nagi Reddy and other MLAs said the Government has burdened the people with Rs.30,000 Cr through hike in power charges in the last four years in utter disregard of the 2009 election manifesto of the Congress.

“By resorting to hike in the power tariff and by not implementing its promise of 9-hour a day free power supply to the farming community, the Congress Government has cheated the people,” Sobha pointed out.

Earlier, YSRCP MLAs attended the assembly wearing black badges and the inflated power bills and also served notice of adjournment motion to the Speaker. The Speaker however rejected the notice.

The MLAs said the Government has been in a deep slumber despite the people’s suffering with farmers finding their crops withered, patients suffering in hospitals due to insufficient medical services, industries getting closed and students not knowing how to carry on their studies with the continuous undeclared power cuts.

“The Government has not only diluted the free power supply scheme but also turned the state into darkness,” Sobha Nagi Reddy regretted, adding there was no increase of power tariff even once during the period of YSR.

“Dr. YSR not only supplied free power but also waived arrears of power bills accumulated during the period of Chandrababu Naidu,” the MLAs said. INN