Members of Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), Mysuru district committee, on Thursday staged a demonstration here demanding withdrawal of Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, describing it as “anti-people”.
Arguing that electricity should be considered as a public welfare service and not a commercial commodity, the SUCI, in its memorandum to the Prime Minister, said the electricity tariff should not be increased for the common consumers in the name of lifting the purported “cross-subsidy”.
The protesters demanded that electricity should be supplied free to agriculture, free up to 200 units to households and small industries, whereas the small businesses should be billed one rupee per unit.
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They demanded that no restrictions should be imposed on common consumers in the production and use of non-conventional energy. Prepaid meters should not be installed, they urged.
In the memorandum, the SUCI urged the Prime Minister to refrain from passing the bill in the Lok Sabha in the interest of consumers and power sector workers. “The liberalisation of power sector will largely affect common consumers. If the bill is passed, the tariff would go up, causing financial burden on the common consumers,” it claimed.