The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee expressing concern over the excess billing in recent times of consumers due to defective smart meters installed by APDCL, has undertaken a stir programme across the State.
Addressing newspersons at the Congress Bhawan here on Saturday, APCC working president Rana Goswami announced that the party had undertaken a programme from September 22 to 28 in all district headquarters to protest against the excessive monthly electricity bills of APDCL in recent times.
Slamming the Government for the burden put on the consumers by the State owned PSU due to the faulty meters, Goswami said that the district unit of the party would hold demonstrations in front of APDCL offices in the districts during the period.
Goswami, taking the ruling BJP led Government in the State to task, questioned the decision of installing smart meters at a cost of Rs 7,000 per meter which has been borne by the State Government when the earlier digital meters were working fine.
Stating that there was a vigilance wing in the APDCL to detect power theft and other anomalies, he questioned the need for installation of smart meters by replacing the digital meters.
The working president said that this decision has not only led to expenditure of huge amount of money for 62 lakh consumers across the State and also causing errors for which inflated bills were received by consumers.
Demanding action from the Power PSU to address the matter and to assure correct billing, Goswami also pointed out that the chief minister, Power minister and APDCL authorities were speaking in different voices on the issue.
The working president further came down heavily on Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma led Government over its decision to collect house taxes (domestic and commercial) in Guwahati for Gauhati Municipal Corporation by engaging a private firm from outside Assam.
He said that the decision smacks of vested interest and was an insult to the employees of GMC.
He also pointed out that local MLAs of Guwahati were kept in the dark about the decision, as reported in the media.
Goswami also hit out strongly at the Government decision to reassess the properties of the people and go for a big tax hike. “At a time when people are overburdened due to skyrocketing prices of essentials and other goods and Government bringing many items under GST, the move to enhance property tax will hit the people hard,” Goswami observed.
