Reverse anti-people decisions: YSRCP

Press Release

Reverse anti-people decisions: YSRCP

Hyderabad, September 23: Admonishing the cowardly act of the State
Government of increasing the tariff soon after the Monsoon session of Assembly,
YSR Congress Party has demanded immediate rollback of power surcharge, besides
stalling the proposed hike in RTC bus fare.

“The decision of the State to collect surcharge on power bills with
retrospective effect to nett Rs 9,670 crores and the proposal to hike RTC fare
to amass Rs 5,600 crores is totally anti-people and will further burden the
common man. We demand the Government to immediately reverse these decisions,”
Party spokesperson Gattu Ramachandra Rao told reporters here on Sunday.

The manner in which the surcharge on power bills was taken immediately
after the House was adjourned is a mockery of democracy and the Kiran Kumar
Reddy Government is more interested in safeguarding its survival and to please
the High Command leaving people’s problems in the lurch.

When the main Opposition Party is weak or indifferent, for its personal
reasons, the State Government tends to toe the dictatorial path, but YSRCP will
question all the anti-people decisions, he said adding that the prices of
groundnut have increased by 20 per cent from kharif to rabi, which should also
be rolled back.

The decision to collect surcharge on power with retrospective effect is
not acceptable as it will affect all sections of the society and the State has
shown its double standards by taxing the common man and favouring a select few
in power bills, he said adding that YSR governance had been the other way round
and was always pro-people.

The proposal to hike RTC fare, collecting VAT on the increased diesel
prices, increase in prices of seeds will have a cascading effect on the
livelihood of all sections. The contention of the State that the proposal to
hike RTC fare is only due to the hike in diesel prices is faulty as the
Government can forego the VAT on the increased price and pass it on to the
consumers without increasing the bus fare, he said.

When Prime Minster, who is also an economist of repute, while defending
the Centre’s FDI policy said that money does not grow on trees, the same
argument applies to common man, who should be spared from being burdened too
often, he said.

The Assembly was conducted in the most unfair and shabby manner with not
a single issue of public interest being taken up for discussion. The issues
that were supposed to be discussed on the floor of the House (power surcharge
and RTC fare hike) became decisions overnight it was adjourned sine die.

“This shows that the Government is not prepared for a debate and will
act in a dictatorial manner, but we will prevail and take up all such issues at
every available forum,” he said. (EOM)