The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Withdraw power surcharge, says Oommen Chandy

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Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Withdraw power surcharge, says Oommen Chandy

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy demanded here on Tuesday that the surcharge imposed on power consumption above 80 units should be withdrawn.

He told presspersons that shortage of power in the State was the result of mismanagement and a lack of planning by the government. The Kerala State Electricity Board had sold power for Rs. 1,500 crore last year and failed to maintain reserves in the dams. Though the government claimed a reserve of water to generate 500 million units as of June 1, about 300 million units were not usable as the generators were not functional.

Mr. Chandy demanded that the government subsidise the additional cost for purchase of thermal power instead of raising the power tariffs.

He demanded that employees reporting for work on Wednesday should be given protection. The police and the government would be held responsible if employees could not enter the Secretariat on Wednesday. The government should not be sponsoring a bandh. The United Democratic Front (UDF) was willing for talks on abandoning hartals as a means of protest.

He said the attack on Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University Jancy James in the presence of the police was a challenge to the rule of law. The police had been posted to the university to protect her. The student leader who attacked her was one the police reported to be absconding in another case. No one had been arrested in the case.

He said Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan had no right to talk about the second phase of land reforms when land distributed to agricultural workers in Kuttanad had gone into the hands of the land mafia through a cooperative society controlled by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). If the UDF came to power, it would take legal action to return the land, if necessary, through legislation.

Replying to questions, he said the class character of the Central government had not changed because the Left parties withdrew their support. The liberal pay revision announced for the Central government employees showed that.

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