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T-Congress Demands Waiver of Power Bills for the Lockdown Months

July 6, 2020
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(Dr Mallu Ravi)
It is very unfortunate that the Telangana government, unmindful of the economic hardships caused by the corona lockdown, has resorted to collect inflated power bills from the consumers of the state. The people have been expressing concern over the bills for the past three months. Political parties raised the issue and protested the government’s indifferent attitude. But the government is refusing to take these grievances into cognizance.  Instead of extending relief to the consumers, the government has adamantly asked the officials to collect bills by force. The entire official machinery has been asked to collect the bills by hook or by crook. Transco officials are threatening the people of the disconnection of service if they failed to pay the bills.
Dr Mallu Ravi, former MP and spokesperson,TPCC
The government is quite aware of how the corona lockdown has thrown up financial trouble for the people.  We are not living in a despotic state like Nizam. We are a democratic polity where governance revolves around the people.  What is happening in Telangana is quite opposite of it. When people are protesting the unreasonably inflated power bills, instead of attempting to mitigate the problem, the government has chosen to ignore it as if woes of people are not the concern of the government.
I received complaints from many quarters that they had got power bills three to four times higher than they used to get in the past despite fact that they consumed no power or little power, having been stuck in lockdown somewhere else. Some got the bills with a huge amount that defy the logic.
The government’s logic that ‘pay first and get it adjusted later’ policy doesn’t suit the poor and weaker sections as well as small traders. When their income has got severely affected or come down drastically, how could the government expect them to pay the bills first and wait for a month to get them adjusted?

People in lakhs have been affected by the policy and crying for relief. But the government seems to hell-bent to collect the bills.

It is true that the revenues of the government are affected due to lockdown. But it is equally true that people’s income also got reduced during the lockdown.

So, it is incumbent upon the government not to put an extra burden on these families.  The government should not choose to shift its financial burden to the poor. We, the congress party, disagree with this attitude and consider this anti-people.  We will stand by the people and fight against this tooth and nail.

 

Time and again the Telangana Congress has given representations to officials in all the mandals across the state on the need to waive the power bills for lockdown period and to adopt telescopic billing in the place of the non-telescopic method.
The government has chosen to ignore them. The Congress party demands that the government must get the feedback from the people and dissuade the official from coercively collecting the bills. We demand that the power bills for the months of lockdown be waived completely.
The agitation organized by Congress today is a huge hit. Braving the dangerous corona situation people have participated in thousands.  We will be forced to intensify the movement if the government were to go ahead to forcibly collect the bills.
(Dr Mallu Ravi is former MP and spokesperson, Telangana Congress)