Bihar: Power tariff hike 'anti-people' step, says BJP

Patna (Bihar): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday dubbed the hike in power tariff in the state as an 'anti-people' step and said that they would start a movement against the same.

"The 55 percent increase in Bihar power tariff is not acceptable. This is a form of betrayal from the Nitish Kumar Government. The way the state authorities are allowed to increase the bills and put unnecessary burden on the poor shows the state in a bad light. We will certainly start a movement against the hike and the effect would show on the streets as well as in the Parliament. It has to be withdrawn," BJP leader Nityanand Rai told ANI.

Rai asserted the hike would prove to be a jolt for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign for the 2014 General Elections wherein he had promised 'power for all.'

Rai also added that they would burn effigies of the Chief Minister and the Power Minister in order to show resentment against the hike.

Earlier, the Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC) approved an average 55 percent hike in power tariff in the state, effective from April 1.

The tariff hike was against an overall increase of 84 percent the two discoms had proposed.

This is the first time the commission has fixed power tariff without taking into account government subsidy for the BPL, rural domestic, rural non-domestic and agriculture consumers.