Will stage protests like the one at Basheerbagh if government does not give up its power sector reforms, warn Left parties 

Describing the three persons who died in firing by police, during the protest against the hike in power tariffs at Basheerbagh (Hyderabad) on August 28, 2000, as martyrs, leaders of the Left parties said their sacrifices would not go in vain, and vowed to wage a similar battle again if the coalition government did not give up its reforms that resulted in a steep increase in tariffs. 

While claiming to have not imposed any burden after the purported power tariff hike during the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) regime, the TDP-led government increased the charges in the last one year, forcing the consumers to pay up inflated bills amounting to a whopping ₹15,485 crore. 

This was because the Central and the State governments implemented reforms to the benefit of the corporate sector, the Left leaders at a public meeting organized here Thursday (August 28) evening to mark the completion of 25 years of the Basheerbagh agitation. 

Addressing the gathering, CPI (M) State secretary V. Srinivasa Rao said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had made the unified State of Andhra Pradesh a laboratory for World Bank-dictated reforms, as part of which he promised cheap and uninterrupted, quality power supply but eventually deceived the people by casting a huge financial burden on them.

He pointed out that the Basheerbagh incident only made the then government to pause the reforms but the situation was back to square one as it buckled under  pressure from multi-lateral funding agencies like the WB and private companies. 

The coalition government is increasing the power tariffs in new ways and the A.P. Electricity Regulatory Authority, which is supposed to protect the interests of consumers, was simply giving its nod whenever the DISCOMs came up with proposals to recover their costs by raising the tariffs. 

Some leaders of the ruling parties who had vehemently opposed the installation of smart meters, were now keeping quiet as the DISCOMs went ahead with the project, Mr. Srinivasa Rao added. 

CPI State secretary K. Ramakrishna, CPI (M) leader Ch. Babu Rao and CPI’s A. Vanaja warned the government against fleecing the consumers in the name of true-up and other charges, and installing smart meters. They alleged that the DISCOMs were issuing bills even for power consumed previously.