PANJIM: Goa Congress on Tuesday burnt the effigy of Power Minister Nilesh Cabral as a part of its State-wide agitation against exorbitant power bills issued to consumers.
The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) along with its legislative wing has submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Power Minister through Chief Electrical Engineer (CEC) demanding that the government should waive off two months- March and April power bills of the consumers or 50 per cent concession on the bills.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
The party has warned to intensify their protest if the demands are not met in the coming 15 days.
Congress has proposed that the department must issue fresh bills waiving off two months consumption charges or 50 per cent discount on the bills issued. It has also said that the government can explore charging the power consumption bill as per the February 2020 bill amount.
It has also suggested that Government can waive off all bills with consumption charges upto Rs. 5,000 and 50 per cent compensation for higher consumption charges above Rs. 5,000.
“The electricity department has been sending exorbitant bills to its consumers since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. The bills are highly inflated with average amounts charged now are almost 10 to 50 times more than the charges of the previous months. The bills are being issued for more than 90 days consumption period,” the memorandum stated.
The party added that due to the COVID pandemic and economic slowdown, the people are going through immense financial tension due to loss of their jobs or abrupt shutting of business activities and in such conditions, receiving such hefty bills from the department is great injustice to the common man.
“The government should have shown some humanity in these critical times and issued discounted bills giving relief to the people like it is done in other States,” said GPCC president Girish Chodankar, while addressing the media.
He added that the government will be solely responsible if some citizens commits suicide over the power bill issue, as at present large number of consumers are paying bills by seeking loans.
“The intentions of the Government looks like to loot the common man even in times of pandemic and financial stress and push them into mental and financial depression, which can result in them falling prey to coronavirus,” the memorandum stated.
Leader of Opposition Diagmbar Kamat said that the duty of the government is to help the common man during such a crisis. He added that the government should provide relief to the consumers, who are already reeling under stress due to the financial crisis.
