AIADMK wants to drop the pre-paid smart meter reading in Puducherry
The Hindu
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Anbalagan urged Chief Minister N. Rangasamy to urgently convene a meeting of NDA allies to reconsider the implementation of the scheme in Puducherry
AIADMK Puducherry East secretary A. Anbalagan on Sunday called for suspending the move to introduce pre-paid smart meters to bill electricity usage, especially given the existing unpopularity over the power privatisation proposal.
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Anbalagan urged Chief Minister N. Rangasamy to urgently convene a meeting of NDA allies to reconsider the implementation of the scheme in Puducherry. The Chief Minister should immediately go to Delhi and urge the Central Government to cancel this project, he said.
According to Mr. Anbalagan, irrespective of whether it is the Congress or the BJP at the Centre, Puducherry has been used as a test bed for implementing anti-people schemes, and this was unacceptable to the people here.
Pointing to the series of protests against the Central Government’s privatisation plan for the power sector, Mr. Anbalagan said now a proposal was mooted to introduce prepaid digital meters for an estimated 4.7 lakh consumers in the U.T. at a cost of Rs. 251 crore. He warned that such a move (where the costs would be recovered from consumers) would be deeply unpopular among the people.
Moreover, the first to be hit if the plan is implemented, would be government departments which have arrears running upto several crores of rupees, Mr. Anbalagan said.
The Puducherry unit of AIADMK would seek its leadership’s nod to launch a stir if the proposal is not withdrawn, he said .
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