Hooda’s show of strength against power tariff hike

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, October 7

Close on the heels of the INLD’s district-wise protests on October 5, the Congress, under the leadership of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, hit the streets today in protest against sharp increase in power tariff resulting in ‘increased’ power bills.

In what turned out to be Hooda’s show of strength at the headquarters of the power utilities in the upscale Sector 6 here, senior leaders lambasted state government over the sharp increase in power tariff and demanded a roll back of the hefty power tariff hike and vowed to continue the struggle against the “anti-people” decisions of the Khattar Government.

While Hooda loyalists were in strength at the dharna venue, state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar and Congress Legislative Party(CLP) leader Kiran Choudhry were conspicuous by their absence bring to the fore the factionalism in the Congress, once again.

Leading the attack against Khattar’s government’s one-year “misrule”, Hooda alleged all sections of society including farmers, employees, traders and industrialists, had been at the receiving end of the BJP Government’s “anti-people” and lop-sided policies. The hefty increase in the power tariff has come as a last straw with power bills going up by up to 43 per cent which has affected everyone in the state, he added. With this increase the price of electricity supply has become costliest in Haryana when compared to other states, said Hooda reading out the power tariff prevalent in other states.

Hooda criticised the Khattar Government for changing the name of Chaudhary Surender Singh Elephant Rehabilitation and Research Centre at Bansantur in Yamunanagar, to Forest Department Elephant Research Centre. Promiment among those who addressed the gathering included Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda, former assembly speaker Kuldeep Sharma, former Haryana Congress Committee working president Ram Parkash, former Haryana Congress president Phul Chand Mullana, and former finance minister Sampat Singh. — With inputs from Arun Sharma