Withdraw hike in power: Chandy to Govt

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 19: Alleging that the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government was 'looting' people by imposing a surcharge on electricity, Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly Oommen Chandy on Tuesday, Aug 19 said the state government should desist from the move to increase charges by 50 paise per unit.

He alleged that the government is looting the people by saying that this was due to failure of south west monsoon.

Mr Chandy claimed that the previous UDF government had given a subsidy of 20 paise per unit, following the agitation by the LDF, which was in the opposition then.

However, the same LDF which is in power now has cancelled the order and reinstated the charges, resulting in the consumer being made to pay 70 paise more per unit.

Claiming that the then Chief Minister A K Antony had even released Rs 556.46 crore to the Electricity Board to compensate the loss on that account, he demanded that the LDF government should release a grant to the Board to compensate the loss as the previous UDF government had done, instead of imposing an additional burden on the people, who were reeling under the rising prices of essential commodities.

UNI