Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu and hundreds of TDP workers were arrested by the police on Wednesday after they staged dharna at Gaganpahad power sub-station in Rangareddy district in protest against the hike in power tariff.
Addressing the gathering, Naidu said that the steep hike in power tariff would put additional burden on the domestic consumers, particularly poor and middle class and demanded that the government revoke its decision immediately. He said that the Congress government, in spite of its poll promise of not increasing the power tariff, affected the hike thrice since 2009. The three hikes have put additional burden on the consumers by Rs 3,700 crore in 2010, Rs 1,700 crore in 2011 and now Rs 4,475 crore.
Naidu said that the State Government’s whopping arrears of Rs17,000 crore to DISCOMS towards free power and subsidy dues have led to the present predicament in the power sector. He said that his party enjoys the credit for streamlining the power sector while generating surplus power despite giving nine hours power to agriculture and 24 hours power to villages and towns during its nine-year tenure.
Naidu claimed that the TDP never failed to supply nine hours power to farmers despite three successive years of drought. He said that State Government’s lack of vision was responsible for the present power crisis. Stating that the power crisis was severe in the rural areas, particularly in villages, Naidu stressed the importance of generation of power for the growth of industries and for creating employment opportunities to vast number of unemployed youth.
He also slammed the government for burdening the people in the name of service tax.
Taking a dig at YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy, Naidu challenged him to disclose his and family members properties since 2004. He alleged that Jagan accumulated wealth through illegal methods and misused official position of former chief minister YSR.
After arresting Naidu and other party activists, the police shifted them to Shamshabad police station. (INN)