The Communist Party of India (CPI) city unit has staged a novel protest with conventional fans to oppose the power cuts being imposed in the city.
Addressing the gathering on Monday, CPI city secretary Donepudi Sankar said that the government had imposed a four-hour power cut in the city. The students appearing for the 10th and Intermediate examinations were facing hardship due to prolonged power cut. More than 12 lakh students were appearing for SSC examinations.
The gap between demand and supply was widening and the government could hardly do anything to improve the power supply, he said, adding, the Communist Party of India would launch massive agitation if the power cuts and hike in power tariff was not rolled back.
Meanwhile, the ‘vidyut poru yatra’ of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) reached fourth day on Monday. CPI(M) state committee member S. Venkat Rao, at inaugural meeting organised at Mutyalampadu here, said that the consumers who used to get Rs.200 as power bill were now receiving Rs. 1600 bill though there was no change in the consumption. The poor and middle class were forced to shell out lion's share of their earnings to pay their power bills, he said.
The government was unable to control the Reliance, which was coming up with silly reasons and pleas that the gas production has fallen steeply. In fact, artificial scarcity was created.
The tariff was hiked on the plea that the expenditure on raw materials has increased, he said, adding, the government should roll back the power tariff hike.
