Bhubaneswar, March 24: The power tariff hike issue found its echo inside the Assembly and also spilled onto the streets in various parts of Odisha today.

Yesterday, the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission, a quasi-judicial body, hiked the power tariff. Domestic consumers will now have to pay 10 paise more per unit they consume.

Henceforth, the domestic consumers will have to pay Rs 2.50 per unit for the first 50 units, Rs 4.30 per unit for consuming power in the slab of 50 to 200 units, Rs 5.30 per unit in the sable of 200 to 400 units and Rs 5.80 per each unit above 400 units of power.

Today, Congress MLAs trooped into the Well demanding rollback of the power tariff hike decision.

Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinpati said: "When the farmers are committing suicide and the people have lost purchasing power, the power tariff will hit them further. The Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission's decision is unfortunate."

BJP MLAs also stood on their seats and supported the demand. Pradeep Purohit said: "Without any delay, the government should intervene and withdraw the hike."

The BJP Yuva Morcha and Mahila Morcha activists today staged protests against the decision to hike the electricity tariff. The party also organised protests in Cuttack and Berhampur.

BJP spokesperson Sajjan Sharma said: "The government should immediately withdraw the hike. Otherwise, the party will organise state-wide agitation. For the benefit of a few companies, the government should not pass on the burden on the consumers."

On the other hand, BJD spokesperson Amar Satpathy said: "The issue should not be politicised. The small consumers will not be affected."

In a related incident, Opposition leader Narasingha Mishra today resigned from the business advisory committee of the Assembly. Mishra said he was resigning from the committee in protest against the "dictatorial attitude" of the state government.

"On Wednesday, the ruling party had agreed at the all-party meet to bring a unanimous resolution urging the central government to enhance the minimum support price for paddy to Rs 2,800 per quintal. But later, it backed out," said the Opposition leader.

Mishra had been boycotting the meetings of the committee in protest since then. He also boycotted the meeting today.

On the other hand, Bahinipati said he was also boycotting the business advisory committee in protest against the "double speak" of the BJD.

Earlier this week, Mishra had submitted a notice to Speaker Niranjan Pujari intending to move a resolution urging the central government to revise the minimum support price from Rs 1,450 to Rs 2,800 in view of the high cost of production. Later, agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy had read out a statement in the House, stating that the state government had recommended the Centre to hike the minimum support price to Rs 2,500 per quintal.