Deputy Floor Leader of Congress in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has said that Congress will take a decision on its course of action against power tariff hike by the Telangana government on Monday.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, he demanded that the government absorb the increase in power tariff by giving subsidy equivalent to the hiked amount of Rs. 816 crore every year. The additional subsidy on power should not be a problem for the TRS government since Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had himself claimed that Telangana was a rich and revenue surplus State.
Stating that the government had increased the tariff as predicted by the Congress, he said: “It’s only the beginning and people should be prepared to face more hikes in taxes in the next couple of months as the government was planning to plug revenue deficit of Rs. 20,000 crore,” Mr. Shabbir Ali said. He pointed out that the government had spared no time in effecting power tariff hike as it was announced even as the Appropriation Bill was being debated in the Council.
Mr. Shabbir Ali felt that the hike would not only affect the common man, but would also slow down the progress of industrial sector.
Instead of giving more incentives, the TRS government was scaring the industries away by affecting power tariff hikes, he said.
The government should absorb the increase in power tariff by giving subsidy equivalent to the hiked amount of Rs. 816 crore every year
– Mohammed Ali Shabbir
Deputy Floor Leader
