Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal condemns Capt Amarinder government for another hike in power tariff w.e.f April 1, 2019

Ludhiana, October 31, 2019: Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM) has condemned the Congress-led Capt Amarinder Singh government in Punjab for making another hike in power tariff with effect from April 1, 2019.
The mandal’s state secretary Mohinder Aggarwal, state general secretary Sunil Mehra and Ludhiana district patron Amrit Lal Verma, said here today that a hike of 5 paisa per unit has been made by the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) under garb of introducing fuel cost adjustment (FCA).
They added the arrears would be added to current power bills of the power consumers. “This will be an additional economic burden on power consumers of Punjab”, they said, adding that common man, trade and industry and all other sectors were already suffering because of economic slowdown globally.
The traders’ leaders further said that on one hand the Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal had assured once and again to provide power supply at Rs.5 per unit and on the other hand power tariff had been increased many times since the present state government took over.
“The Congress leadership while in the Opposition had been opposing the SAD-BJP alliance government in Punjab for increasing power tariff from retrospective dates and now its own government led by Capt Amarinder Singh has been following the footsteps of its predecessor government which is highly condemnable”, they said.
They further said the state government was doing partiality with urban power consumers compared to rural power consumers. The government was providing power subsidy worth about Rs.8,500 crore per annum to rural power consumers whereas it was making hike after hike in power tariff of urban consumers. “We are not against giving power subsidy to needy”, they said, adding power subsidy should be continued only to farmers having 7-8 acres of agricultural land.
They said a meeting of Ludhiana Unit of Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal would be held here on November 10 to review election manifesto of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC). They would find-out promises made at time of elections but have not been fulfilled so far, they said.