As protests mounted across Odisha against power tariff hike, the State government announced in the Assembly on Monday that it will file a review petition before the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) seeking a roll-back of the hike pertaining to agriculture.
In an attempt to cope with the Opposition demand for a roll-back of power tariff hike, Energy Minister Pranab Prakash Das said that keeping the interest of farmers in view, the energy department will file a review petition before the OERC.
The proceedings the Assembly were stalled for several days by the Opposition Congress and BJP after the OERC on March 23 announced hike in power tariff with effect from April 1.
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While the tariff for domestic consumers was raised by 20 paise per unit, the hike was 40 paise in unit in case of agriculture. The Congress and the BJP had also staged demonstrations outside the Assembly demanding a roll back of the power tariff hike. The BJP had also staged a dharna outside the Raj Bhavan to highlight the demand.
The Congress also organised demonstrations at all the district headquarters towns across the State on Monday. Thousands of party workers joined the protest. The Odisha Electricity Consumers’ Federation has also called for a state-wide ‘hartal’ on Tuesday to highlight its demand for a roll back of the power tariff hike.