Opposition attacks Odisha government over power tariff hike, BJP stages walkout

BHUBANESWAR: The Opposition on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the State Government in the Assembly over the power tariff hike when the people are battling an extraordinary situation of Covid-19 pandemic and demanded its immediate rollback. 

Not satisfied with the reply of Minister of State for Energy Dibya Shankar Mishra on the issue, the BJP members staged a walk out of the House.

The issue cropped up for discussion through adjournment motion notice brought by the BJP and Congress members.

Describing the decision of the State Government as unconstitutional, Opposition chief whip and BJP member Mohan Majhi said that when the lives of the common people have been greatly affected by the pandemic, the power tariff hike will put them in further problem.

“The manner in which the Minister has advocated on behalf of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) for the hike is unjust and unacceptable,” he said.

Majhi questioned the Government’s inaction in collecting dues of over Rs  6,000 crore from the distribution companies. “The State Government has done nothing to collect the dues from the distribution companies, but further burdened the common people with tariff hike,” he said.

Criticising the move, deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Santosh Singh Saluja said that the Government should not have taken such a decision when people are as suffering from a serious public health disaster. “Why is the Government not collecting dues of around Rs 3,000 crore from the industrial houses,” he asked and demanded the immediate roll back of the hike. 

Instead of taking steps to collect the dues from industrial houses, the Government is trying for one time settlement, he said.Congress whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati also criticised the tariff hike and demanded that the decision should be immediately withdrawn.

Making a statement on the issue, the Minister justified the step and said OERC has increased the tariff by only four per cent after a gap of seven years by examining all the aspects.

“The Commission while exempting the Kutir Jyoti consumers and the farmers living below the poverty line (BPL) from the hike has revised the tariff by only 20 paise per unit for the people and the organisations who consume more than 50 units of power,” he said and added that power tariff in Odisha is less than neighbouring states including West Bengal, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.

The Minister said the Commission has hiked the tariff as the power producing PSUs like the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) and the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) have increased the average cost of power by 68 per cent.