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Cong holds protest demanding rollback of power tariff hike

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Press Trust of India Gurgaon
Haryana Congress today held a day-long dharna here demanding rollback of hike in power tariff in the state and said the move has "added to the woes of people".

The party also alleged that the BJP-led government in the state has failed on all fronts during its nearly one-year rule.

Due to various "anti-people" decisions of the Khattar Government, every section of society, be it farmers, traders, employees, students, poor, were facing the brunt and now hiked power tariff was further adding to their woes, state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar said.

Both rural and urban areas suffer from power shortages in addition of it being erratic in supply, he said, and stressed that Congress would force the state government to rollback hike in power tariff.
 

The dichotomy was that on one hand, people were not getting adequate supply of electricity while on the other they were being burdened with increased tariff, he said.

Addressing the protesters near the Mini-Secretariat here, Tanwar said, power consumers in Haryana were adversely hit by the hiked tariff.

The collective recovery of power arrears for the last four months in the bills received in September had added to the woes of common people, he added.

Notably, the increase in power tariff by about 8.5 per cent, announced on May 7 and effected from April 1 this year, and the recovery of its arrears has evoked a sharp reaction from the public.

Alleging that hiked power tariff has broken the backbone of all sections of society, including farmers and small scale industry, Tanwar said, due to new tariff slab, people are getting inflated bills.

The Haryana Congress Chief also lashed out at the state government for allegedly failing on all fronts during its nearly one-year rule.

"Law and order situation in Haryana is worsening. Every day one gets to hear about murder, rape, kidnapping and looting," Tanwar said, adding there was also anger among the public of Gurgaon since it had not been included in the list of 'Smart Cities'.

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First Published: Oct 14 2015 | 5:42 PM IST

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