RLD dharna against power tariff hike

| | Lucknow | in Lucknow

Hundreds of Rashtriya Lok Dal workers and leaders gheraoed power sub-stations across Uttar Pradesh on Monday in protest against the hike in power tariff.

In Lucknow, hundreds of RLD workers led by party national spokesman Anil Dubey and state chief Masood Ahmad assembled at the GPO Park where they had a scuffle with the police and district administration officials. 

The RLD leaders later handed over a memorandum of their demands addressed to the Governor, to district administration officials. 

Addressing party workers, Ahmad said that the Bharatiya Janata Party government was hell bent on destroying rural economy by its Tughlaqi ideas. 

“This is evident from the state government decision to hike power tariff by 350 per cent. This has broken the backbone of the farmers. The people of the state are bearing the brunt of the UP Power Corporation’s inefficiency,” he said.

Dubey said that the RLD had been carrying out a ‘Pol Khol’ drive against the BJP government for the last one month and its workers staged protest at power sub-stations across the state on Monday. 

“The monthly income of a farmer is Rs 4,923 and he has to pay Rs 850 per month for domestic use of power and Rs 2,000 per month for use of electricity for pumps. How can a farmer bear this?” he asked.

Also present at the dharna were RLD state vice-president Wasim Haider, state spokesman Surendra Nath Trivedi and other leaders.