PANJIM: Chief Electrical Engineer Nilkanta Reddy on Friday assured a Congress delegation to put up a proposal before the State government for withdrawal of the Fuel Power Purchase and Cost Adjustment (FPPCA) charges that have been added to the existing tariffs of domestic and industrial power consumers leading to shockingly high power bills.
Congress members led by All India Congress Committee (AICC) Secretary Girish Chodankar on Friday morning gheraoed Reddy demanding the immediate withdrawal of FPPCA charges. Congress threatened to continue the protest and to take to the streets, if required, exposing the government’s anti-people policies.
The protest was withdrawn following Reddy’s assurance to put up a note before the government to withdraw the FPPCA charges within six days. “Reddy has assured to write to the government for a rollback of the FPPCA charges which are being recovered from consumers. Consumers are receiving huge bills. Instead of getting monthly bills, consumers have received inflated bills of accumulated amounts at an interval of two-three months, which now have affected their budget,” Chodankar said.
The delegation also questioned Reddy about Power Minister Pandurang Madkaikar’s misleading statement that FPPCA are one time charges, whereas the Chief Electrical Engineer said it is quarterly.
“FPPCA charges were unavoidable. Government has not charged any extra money from the public. In fact, the department had informed people over these charges. Power tariff has not been hiked for the last two years and it will not be hiked in the coming year too,” the Minister had told media persons.
The department confirms that bills for the 4th quarter of FY 2016-17 ie from January-March 2017 are high compared to the previous three quarters of FY 2016-17.
