The Congress party rank and file staged protests in front of power utilities’ offices across Telangana on Monday demanding that the State government waive power bills of at least below poverty line (BPL) families and small traders for the lockdown period, and reintroduce the telescopic billing system.
In Hyderabad, a protest march planned by the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) from Gandhi Bhavan, the TPCC headquarters, to Vidyut Soudha by TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, former minister Md. Ali Shabbir, former MP M. Anjan Kumar Yadav and others was foiled by the police, deployed in large numbers at Gandhi Bhavan.
As they were not allowed to take out the protest march, the Congress leaders led by Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy staged a dharna at Gandhi Bhavan itself by sporting black badges.
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Speaking at the dharna, Mr. Reddy said the poor and middle class had to suffer badly during the lockdown period, and it was the responsibility of the government to waive the power bills of these sections for the lockdown period as they had no livelihood activities. However, instead of providing any relief, the government (power utilities) slapped very high power bills with change of billing slabs due to collection, and computing the energy consumption data for three months together.
Similar was the fate of small traders as they had no business during the lockdown period, but they too were slapped huge bills. It is inhuman and shocking, he noted.
He pointed out that bills would come down with the implementation of telescoping billing system again.
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Later, a delegation of the TPCC led by Mr. Reddy went to Vidyut Soudha and submitted a memorandum of their demands to Joint Managing Director of TS-Transco C. Srinivasa Rao.
As per the call given by the party TPCC general secretary, G Vinod Reddy along with Mohd. Ayub and others protested at the electricity office near Old MLA quarters and submitted a memorandum to the ADE, Ram Singh. He requested the CM to consider waiving off the bills.
In Karimnagar, Congress workers led by TPCC working president and former MP Ponnam Prabhakar staged a protest in front of Northern Discom office there.
He sought to know from Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao as to why waving power bills for the lockdown period did not come to his mind when he had asked the house owners not to pressurise tenants to pay rents during the lockdown period.
At Madhira in Khammam district, Congress Legislature Party leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka staged a protest, and at Amanagal in Rangareddy district, former Member of Parliament Mallu Ravi, former MLA Challa Vamshichand Reddy and other took out a protest march holding black flags and sporting black badges.