AJYCP activists burn the effigy of state power minister Pradyut Bordoloi in Tinsukia on Saturday. Picture by UB Photos

Nov. 22: A power tariff hike announced by the Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission has evoked resentment, with organisations and political parties calling for a review.

The commission yesterday hiked the tariff by Rs 0.74 per unit for domestic users and Rs 1.19 per unit for commercial users. The average increase of tariff is 13 per cent.

The tea industry says it will impact the cost of production while the Eastern Assam Chambers of Commerce and Industry has called for a review. The Consumers’ Legal Protection Forum (CLPF) has demanded that Dispur collect Rs 108 crore from its 71 departments before hiking the tariff.

“Power supply to the gardens is already short by 30 to 50 per cent during the peak period. Generators have to be used for half the time, which increases costs. With the increase in tariff, costs will go up immensely for irrigation and manufacturing, ultimately resulting in higher cost of tea and a negative impact on the economy. Assam’s economy rests on tea and if this is affected then the whole economy will be affected,” chairman of North Eastern Tea Association Bidyanand Barkakoty said.

The chairman of the Federation of Industry and Commerce of Northeastern Region (Finer), R.S. Joshi, said the hike is “unfortunate” and will hit the competitiveness of the industry as it cannot pass on the hike burden to the consumers.

The secretary of the CLPF, Ajoy Hazarika, criticising the hike as anti-people, said during the public hearing conducted by the commission they had demanded that the government departments pay up the amount they owe to the power companies but that has not happened.

The Jorhat district committee president of the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), Siba Kalita, too, said the government should first seek to collect the tariff from its own defaulting departments instead of burdening the common man.

Principal, Goalpara Commercial Institute, Tapan Bhattacharya, said the hike would hamper business. “There are many illegal electric connections in Goalpara from where the power companies are not earning anything,” he said.

The general secretary of the AIUDF, Goalpara unit, Abdul Hai, said it is a one-sided decision and called for its withdrawal. The secretary of Dhubri district unit of the CPM, Tripath Nath Chakraborty, and social activist Kuladhar Das, too, criticised the tariff hike. The present peak hour demand of Assam is 1,400MW against which the state has been facing a shortfall of about 400MW.