Congress slams AAP, NDPL for hiking power tariffs

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 12

The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) slammed the North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL) and the Aam Aadmi Party Government for allegedly hiking power tariffs at commercial rates and reducing the load capacity of tube-wells used by farmers for irrigation.

Spokesperson of DPCC Sharmistha Mukherjee while addressing a press conference said till recently the farmers used to have 20 KW meter and by charging the farmers commercial power tariff for upward of 10 KW power consumption for tube-well operation for irrigation, the NDPL had affected the farmers, who were yet to be paid compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre announced by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal when they suffered crop damage due to hailstorm last year.

The Congress party will hold a demonstration outside the residence of Kejriwal on August 16 at 12 noon to protest against the power tariff hike at commercial rates for tube-wells.

Quoting a notification issued by the NDPL to the consumers regarding the “change of rate category from Agriculture to NDLT (Non Domestic Low Tension)”, Mukherjee said the farmers were no longer “eligible to be considered under agriculture rate category”.The arbitrary revision in the load capacity of tube-wells without the knowledge of farmers and thereby bringing them under the ambit of commercial category has inflicted a very heavy financial burden on them.

When the Congress was in power in Delhi, it had taken a “considerate view” on the difficulty being faced by consumers and enhanced the MDI limit for all agricultural consumers to 20 kw through an order on October 15, 2009.