(Says all power bills should be halved for this period. Industry should be exempt from fixed charges)
(Dr Daljit Singh Cheema asks CM to intervene and direct PSPCL to withdraw all bills issued to people recently)
Chandigarh, May 13( Wishavwarta)– The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today condemned the Congress government for sprinkling salt on the wounds of the common man by issuing inflated power bills with clauses of penalty at a time when the poor as well as the middle class were in dire financial straits due to COVID-19.
In a statement here, former minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said it was shocking and most insensitive of the Congress government to issue power bills to all domestic as well as industrial consumers with deadlines and penalty clauses. “The government is committing a cruelty on the common man by forcing people to cough up power bills immediately. The SAD demands a four month moratorium on all power bills including halving of all bills when they are due for collection in a phased manner. It also demands doing away with fixed charges for the industrial sector”.
Asking chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh to consider these demands sympathetically in public interest, Dr Cheema said people were undergoing great hardship. “Many are unable to even feed their families after being rendered jobless. There is no way they can pay inflated power bills received by them at this juncture. The chief minister should direct PSPCL to withdraw the bills immediately and issue them in a phased manner after four months after halving the bill amount”.
The SAD leader said all industry and shops which had closed shop when curfew was imposed in the State should not be subjected to any charge. He said industry should be exempt from fixed charges and power bills of those industries which had started operations should also be halved.
Dr Cheema said there were also reports from the field that a large number of people had received inflated bills with many being charged as per their last consumption figures or on estimate basis. He said PSPCL should withdraw all bills issued to the consumers and issue fresh bills after reducing them by 50 per cent once the economy was back on track.
