BJP protests against AAP govt over power tariff ‘hike’

New Delhi: BJP leaders and workers on Friday staged a protest against the AAP government near the Delhi Secretariat over the power “tariff hike”

in the city.

The BJP workers along with representatives of Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) also burnt copies of electricity bills and demanded that the hike in power purchase adjustment charge (PPAC) be rolled back.

Addressing the protesters, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the Kejriwal government raised PPAC without touching the per unit cost of electricity for political benefit.

He claimed it was Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who brought PPAC to Delhi. PPAC was just 1.7 per cent in 2015 and it has now gone up to 46 per cent, he said. Meter charges and load surcharge have also tripled during Kejriwal’s 10-year tenure, he claimed.

PPAC is a surcharge to cover fluctuations in power purchase costs incurred by the discoms. It saw an increase of 6.15 per cent to 8.75 per cent this year.

BJP MPs Yogendra Chandolia and Kamaljeet Sehrawat, former MP Ramesh Bidhuri, party unit general secretary Vishnu Mittal, and MLAs Vijender Gupta, Mohan Singh Bisht, Abhay Verma and Anil Bajpayi also participated in the protest.

The increase in power tariff has put the people of Delhi in financial distress. The BJP will continue to fight for the rights of the people of Delhi, said Chandolia. The protesters

tried to march towards the Delhi Secretariat from Shaheedi Park at ITO but were stopped

by police.