Deputy Chief Minister K. Narayanaswamy on Tuesday asked the A.P. Southern Discom to issue clarification to the consumers on the alleged hefty power bills issued during the lockdown period.
Participating in the ‘Mana Paalana – Mee Soochana’ programme to commemorate the completion of the first year of YSRCP rule in the State, Mr. Narayanaswamy said the clarification on power bills was the need of the hour, given the huge uproar from the consumers.
Superintending Engineer Chalapathi explained to him that the consumers believed that the ‘excessive billing’ was due to the 60-day slab, but it was, in fact, due to higher consumption in April, compared to the previous bill paid by them for February.
“As the manual reading was not taken due to the lockdown, the computer automatically divided the total consumption for two months and calculated the bills accordingly,” he said.
Farmers’ income
Earlier, the Deputy CM sought suggestions from the people on enhancing the farmers’ income.
Chittoor MP N. Reddeppa recalled that he had raised the issue of formation of Tomato Board in the Parliament. He also said the mango prices remained stagnant at a paltry level for over ten years, while the yield for the current year stood a mere one-tenth of the normal.
MLC Yandapalli Srinivasulu Reddy felt that the Centre’s package would be of little help to the farm sector.
Collector Bharat N. Gupta said that the innovative programme was meant to involve all stakeholders in deciding the modalities for every sector.
