Chandigarh – Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring today condemned the Aam Aadmi Party government for issuing hefty and inflated bills to power consumers across the state.
“It is a classic example of robbing Peter to pay Paul”, Warring remarked in a statement, while referring to the highly inflated bills to domestic consumers which are double and triple than the normal bills.
This, the PCC president observed, obviously means that the AAP government was shifting the burden of free power from one section of the population to another section, which is unfair and unacceptable. He said, the Congress will not allow this to happen and it will not allow the government to rob honest consumers who have been paying regular electricity bills.
Warring disclosed that he had received reports from across the state, from a cross section of people with common complaints that the PSPCL had issued unusually hefty bills to domestic consumers. Even two bedroom apartments have been served monthly bills to the tune of Rs 20,000 each, which is unacceptable, he said, while asking the PSPCL not to fleece consumers.
The PCC president disclosed that the PSPCL had started charging revised advance consumer deposits from the consumers. He said, the consumers normally deposit such security at the time of power connection and charging it again is illegal and amounts to extortion.
“Charging it all of a sudden without any rhyme or reason means that the government is trying to charge additional money from consumers who do not fall under the free power scheme”, he observed, while announcing that Congress will soon launch protests against this “extortion” all over the state.
“We welcome free electricity to deserving consumers, but not at the cost of other consumers”, he said, adding, the AAP government should arrange and mobilise other resources instead of robbing consumers who are already paying hefty bills.
