Hyderabad: Hyderabad City Congress (Minorities Department) Chairman Sameer Waliullah has launched a novel protest against the inflated electricity bills being served to consumers this month by launching a ‘Missed Call’ campaign. People who are angry with the huge electricity bills can register their protest by giving a missed call to the number ‘9982997444’.
“Each and every consumer is unhappy and infact, angry with the inflated electricity bills he/she got this month. The bill amounts are not only abnormal, but insane. This is an organised loot by TRS Government,” Sameer Waliullah alleged and said the Missed Call campaign was the easiet way to register the protest against the official ‘extortion’ by the State Government.
The Congress leader said that the number was informally introduced on Sunday evening and thousands of missed calls were received in less than 24 hour period.
“We are not going to tolerate this injustice. Lakhs of people have either lost their jobs due to lockdown or faced huge salary cuts. All savings got exhausted during the last 60 days. Lakhs of people, especially those belonging to the poor and middle class are in huge debts. Despite relaxation in lockdown, a majority of people have no work or other sources of income. Under these circumstances, it is impossible for the people to pay huge electricity bills,” he said.
Sameer Waliullah also condemned Energy Minister Jagadish Reddy for justifying the inflated bills. He said that the energy department has calculated the total consumption accumulatively for 90 days and not on monthly basis. This wrong methodology has pushed almost everyone into a upper category due to change in slab rates.
Therefore, the bill amounts were 3-10 times higher than the average monthly billing. He referred to the Tweet of IT Minister K. Tarakarama Rao wherein he admitted that he was in receipt of several complaints of high electricity bills and also gave an assurance to review the matter. He said there was a huge contradiction in KTR’s stand and the version of Energy Minister Jagadish Reddy.
While one is admitting the mistake, another is trying to justify it. He demanded that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao intervene into the matter and announce a complete waiver of electricity bills for the entire lockdown period.
He announced that the Congress party would launch mass agitation on the issue. Further, he said all legal options would be explored to bring justice for the people.