Opposition stalls Odisha Assembly for second day over power tariff hike

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Assembly was stalled for the second consecutive day today as opposition Congress and BJP intensified their demand of roll back of electricity tariff hike announced by OERC.

Holding banners and shouting slogans, the opposition members occupied the well of the House as it assembled for the day. Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra of Congress demanded suspension of Question Hour and a debate on the new power tariff.

Unable to run the proceedings due to the din, Speaker Niranjan Pujari adjourned the House thrice in a row. He convened the Business Advisory Committee meeting to resolve the impasse.

However, the meeting failed to arrive at any conclusion as the opposition members remained stuck to their demand of rolling back of the new tariff.

Treasury bench members, however, blamed the opposition and accused them of stalling proceedings of the House.

"We are raising an issue that the people are agitated about. The only way out of the impasse is rollback of the decision," Congress member Anshuman Mohanty said.

BJD member Dibyashankar Mishra, however, said the opposition should give an opportunity to the Energy minister to explain why this tariff hike had become inevitable.

Earlier, a delegation of Congress met Governor S C Jamir yesterday and submitted a memorandum highlighting hike in power tariff for the farmers and poor consumers.

Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) in its notification on Monday increased tariffs by 20 paise per unit for domestic consumers and by 40 paise on farming.

The consumers covered under Kutir Jyoti Yojana will also have to pay more as the monthly tariff has been increased from Rs 65 to Rs 80.