Chandigarh:
Congress today slammed the Manohar Lal Khattar led BJP government in Haryana for raising power tariff.
"The BJP government in Haryana has hiked power tariff in a clandestine manner that has broken the backbone of all sections of society, including farmers, and small scale industry," senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said.
He said that in view of hike in power tariff the farmers and common man is getting "inflated" bills putting them into "miserable" condition.
Mr Surjewala, who is sitting Congress MLA from Kaithal, claimed the Khattar government had hiked power tariff by 40 to 50 per cent across the board.
"Due to anti-people policy of the BJP government, the small scale industry in the state is on the verge of closure," he said leading a protest in his Kaithal constituency.
"People in urban areas are feeling cheated by the BJP government due to power tariff hike in a clandestine manner," he said.
The employees of power utilities are raiding the houses of common man, employees and farmers and imposing heavy penalties on them, Mr Surjewala alleged.
Describing the hike in power tariff by the BJP government as a "Tughlaki order", he said that the present dispensation had done away with the slab system which was enforced during the previous ten years rule of Congress.
Mr Surjewala alleged that the government had burdened the people by imposing municipal tax and fuel surcharge of about 1.72 per cent in the bills of consumers.
He claimed that there was acute power shortage in the state as villagers are getting power for eight to ten hours and there are undeclared power cuts for six to eight hours in cities.
Meanwhile, seeking immediate withdrawal of hike in power tariff, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced that the Congress party will stage a demonstration in Panchkula on October seven in front of office of power utilities.
Taking a dig at Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Mr Hooda said that "the party is working in coordination with the BJP rather then playing the role of opposition for the interest of people.