Former TDP MLA Bonda Umamaheswara Rao has asked people not to pay the power bills until the government revised the tariff slabs in a logical and rational manner.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Mr. Rao said that people should object to the steep hike in bills and register their protest in front of the visiting electricity staff. The government would cancel the white ration cards if the poor families paid the latest power bills which were around ₹3,000. Also, there was a possibility of denying other social benefits like social security pensions. The government has already used such pretexts to cancel benefits to many people in the state in the past, he alleged.
The TDP leader said that a SC family which used to get zero bill if the power consumption was less than 200 units. It was possible due to Jagjeevan Jyothi scheme implemented by the Chandrababu Naidu government. Now, the power bill runs into ₹2,900 for the same family. The YSRCP leaders owed an explanation to the Dalits. During his State-wide padayatra prior to elections, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy promised that electricity tariff would not be revised if voted to power, he recalled.
