Botsa defends power tariff hike proposal

Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanarayana on Thursday clarified that the hike in power tariff was still a proposal and not a decision taken by the State Government.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan here, Botsa said that the proposal has been moved by the DISCOMS and it would be discussed in the State Cabinet before taking a final decision. However, he also clarified that the Congress party never promised in its 2009 election manifesto that it would affect a hike in the power tariff. He said with compared to the consumption, the power production was very low in the State and therefore, the hike in power tariff has been proposed to meet the additional costs being incurred in purchasing the power from other resources.

Botsa also described the protest by the opposition parties over the proposed hike in power tariff as pre-mature. He said that the opposition parties were misleading the common people by holding protest over a proposal. He said it was strange that Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu, who resorted to police firing on those protesting against power tariff hike during his regime, has been advising the government on this issue. He said Naidu, instead of criticising the government, should recall what he did while he was the Chief Minister for almost nine years.

The PCC president also hinted that there might be a revision in salaries of State Government employees before Sankranti festival.