Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], June 1 : Coming down heavily on Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over his recent announcement of waiving fuel surcharge and other charges along with electricity bills, Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly Rajendra Rathore on Thursday said that with the elections round the corner, the public will not fall for such sudden announcements by a party which looted them for years.
Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly, Rajendra Rathore said in a tweet that CM Gehlot was so impressed by PM Modi's address that he was forced to announce relief late at night.
"After looting the public for 4 and a half years, now as soon as the election year approaches, the public will not be fooled by your sudden announcement of waiving fuel surcharge and other charges in electricity bills. There is a flaw in both your policy and intention", LoP Rathore tweeted.
He added, "This is the limit, the Congress government, which collected an average of 55 paise per unit fuel surcharge from electricity consumers for 4 and a half years, is now doing a gimmick of waiving fuel surcharge up to 200 units. While the fuel surcharge in the previous BJP government was just 18 paise per unit on average. When the entrepreneurs are on strike due to the increase in fuel surcharge, then why are the industrial units not waiving the fuel surcharge?"
Rathore said before the CM announcement comes into effect, the government should at least pay the outstanding amount to the electricity companies against the subsidy given to the consumers.
"Before declaring the rate, you should at least pay the outstanding amount of 15 thousand and 180 crores to the electricity companies against the subsidy given to the electricity consumers. There is a loss of about 1 lakh 20 thousand crores of discoms and for the expenditure of subsidy, power companies have to take loans of 60 thousand crores from banks every year, whose interest is also about 6500 crores annually. It would be better if the government pays them first and then makes announcements", he added.
He added that the public will benefit from reduced electricity bills only when they cosume it. He said that electricity consumers are forced to bear the brunt of undeclared power cuts for several hours in urban and rural areas of the state.
"It would have been better if you had announced some relief regarding corruption in expensive power purchases, coal purchases and turnkey projects in connection with farmers. It would have been better to say something about when the announcements made to supply electricity to the farmers in two blocks a day and to form a new agricultural power distribution company will be completed," he added.
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