Kolkata, Dec 18: The West Bengal Congress today demanded that the left front government immediately convene an all-party meeting to discuss the power tariff hike in the state and demanded its rollback. The government could not shirk its responsibility for the hike, Congress state unit vice-president Pradip Bhattacharya told newsmen here.
"Without the concurrence of the government, the state electricity regulatory commission could not have recommended removal of cross-subsidy. The government was fully aware of it," he said.
He said that his party would not oppose the 24-hour statewide bandh called by Socialist Unity Centre of India on January 27 on this issue.

The government, he said, should convene an all-party meeting to chalk out strategy to mount pressure on the commission to continue cross-subsidy.
Alternatively, Bhattacharya demanded that the government provide subsidy to mitigate the hardship of the 14 lakh consumers served by private power utility CESC Ltd, if the commission stuck to its recommendations. Bureau Report