Congress opposes smart prepaid electricity meters in Uttarakhand, walks out of Assembly

Dehradun, Feb 19 (PTI) The main opposition Congress in Uttarakhand on Wednesday fiercely attacked the BJP government in the Assembly over the smart prepaid electricity meters being installed in the state and later walked out of the House in protest against the scheme.

Raising the matter during the Zero Hour on the second day of the Budget Session of the Assembly, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Yashpal Arya alleged that a conspiracy is being hatched to impose smart prepaid electricity meters on the common consumers of the state to benefit business houses like the Adani Group.

He said private companies will recover Rs 2,027 crore from this scheme.

Arya also alleged that the central government is pressurising the state to install these meters, saying if these meters are not installed then the electricity-related development projects going on in the state will be stopped.

He said these prepaid meters will be recharged through a mobile app and if someone is unable to recharge it in time due to the failure of the internet network or any other reason, the electricity of his house will go out.

The LoP termed this scheme as "anti-people, sad and serious" and demanded the state government to withdraw it.

Tilakraj Behad, MLA from Kichha in Udham Singh Nagar, who was the first to oppose the smart prepaid electricity meters being installed in the state, said Adani Group in Kumaon region of the state and Genus Company, which is accused of corruption in Garhwal region, have been given the work of installing prepaid meters, which are harassing common consumers.

He claimed that in his assembly constituency, people of Adani Group are forcing consumers to install prepaid meters and are saying that a fine of Rs 10,000 will be charged to them if they do not get the meter installed.

Behad urged the government to stop this scheme and said that the poor and weak people should be saved from harassment by these companies.

Other Congress members, including Sumit Hridayesh, Bhuvan Kapri, Gopal Rana, Adesh Chauhan, Mamta Rakesh, also expressed their opposition on this issue.

Later in his reply, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prem Chand Agarwal said smart prepaid electricity meters are being installed in all the states of the country under the RDSS scheme of the Central Government.

He claimed that consumers will not face any problems due to this and there will be no additional burden on them.

He clarified that these meters will not be installed where there is no internet facility at present.

Responding to the accusations of giving the work of installing prepaid meters to Genus Company which allegedly is battling corruption charges, Agarwal said the order was given to it six months before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the firm.

The minister said no money from the state is being spent on the scheme and the central government is giving grant for it.

However, expressing dissatisfaction over Agrawal's reply, Arya alleged that "atrocities and oppression" are being done on people through the prepaid smart meter scheme. The people are angry over the scheme, he said.

The scheme will prove to be the last nail in the coffin of the government, he said.

After this, the Congress members walked out of the House. PTI ALM ALM KSS KSS

Source: PTI