GUWAHATI, July 24 � The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Assam Pradesh has registered its strong protest against the hike in power tariff effected by the Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL). Terming the development as another anti-people step, the party said that the common people were paying the price for the inefficiency of the government that has failed to check loss of power due to a host of reasons including technical snags.
�In the month of May, power tariff was hiked. Now again the power tariff has been increased. This will adversely affect the staggering economy of the State,� said the party pointing out that the common people have already been suffering on account of the skyrocketing prices of all essential commodities including foodgrain.
Coming down heavily on the Congress government for not taking any measures to provide succour to the consumers, the party rued the lack of effort on the part of the government to utilise natural gas for producing electricity. �Natural gas is being burnt in upper Assam any time of the day. Why does not the government think of utilising this natural gas and address the power crisis to a certain extent,� suggested the party.
Warning against hiking power tariff, the party said that this will invite stiff opposition from the consumers.
On the other hand, the Communist Party of India, Assam State Council has demanded immediate withdrawal of the proposal to hike power tariff and has warned that it would be compelled to launch a vigorous agitation across the State.
