Nagpur: The City-unit of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which has demanded the Thackeray Government to waive off electricity bills of up to 200 units for people who have suffered economically due to the COVID-19 lockdown has warned that if the state fails to meet the demand, the party will launch “Tala Thoko” agitation and lock all the electricity offices in state from September 10.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Aam Admi Party stated that the party had submitted memorandums to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on June 3, 26, July 17 and August 9, 2020 demaning waiver of power bills up to 200 units. The party had also gheraoed the Guardian Minister on August Kranti Day. The aprty workers staged jail bharo agitations across the state but the slumbering state government has not woken up till to date, the party said. The party further said that the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown has hit people financially and it was imperative that they receive adequate support at all levels from the state government.
“It is thus extremely important that the Maha Vikas Aghadi Government immediately take measures to alleviate the economic crisis that has gripped the aam aadmi (common man),” it said. The MVA Government should waive off electricity bills for up to 200 units for the last four months, the statement read.
To drive home its point, it said that the AAP-led Delhi government had ensured that bills for power consumption below 200 units are “absolutely free, thus giving respite (to people of Delhi) even prior to the pandemic”.
The Aam Admi Party demanded that the Thackeray Government should announce its decisions of public interest during the 2-day Monsoon Session of State Legislature being held in Mumbai on September 7 and 8.
Bhushan Dhakulkar, Nagpur City Secretary and Vidarbha Media Convener of AAP said that the consumers across the state have been complaining about inflated power bills for the past few months, but power distribution companies have maintained that there was no error on their part and that there has been an increase in power usage owing to summer and Covid-19-induced lockdown, with most people at home and the meter-reading suspended.
A delegation of AAP led by Dhakulkar on Thursday met the District Collector and submitted a memorandum on their demands. The other members of the delegation include party’s West Nagpur Convener Akash Kaole, CYSS State Vice President Nihal Barewar, West Nagpur Organising Secretary Harish Gurbani, office-bearers Raju Jethani and Rahul Jalke.
