Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Hameed Karra on Thursday opposed the electricity tariff hike from next month and demanded its immediate withdrawal, besides seeking an amnesty scheme for consumers with outstanding dues.
“We have demanded a general amnesty under which all their old pending dues should be waived, and this increase should be revisited and withdrawn,” Karra told reporters after the conclusion of a party function in Reasi.
Calling the order “anti-people,” Karra said that the hike would put an additional burden on ordinary consumers, particularly poor families already struggling with huge outstanding electricity bills.
What will ordinary people, especially the poor, do when they have lakhs of rupees pending in electricity bills, he asked.
The Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has approved a 6.83 per cent average hike in power tariff for J&K, which would come into effect from September 1. The hike was notified on August 22.
Several new members also joined the Congress during the programme, expressing faith in the ideology, policies and leadership of the party.
Senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla stressed the need to strengthen the party organisation at the grassroots level and called upon workers to remain connected with the people and work for their welfare.
Former MP Ch Lal Singh welcomed the new entrants, particularly the younger generation, into the party and alleged that people had realised what he described as the “anti-people and anti-youth” policies of the BJP government.
He alleged that the Modi government was “pro-rich” and claimed that the local population was being deprived of traditional trades and livelihood opportunities.