Protesting against the recently hiked power bills in Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka, amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday launched their ‘Shock Beda’ (Don’t Want Shock) campaign and unveiled a website for the same. On November 4, the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) had approved a hike of 40 paise per unit for all electricity supply companies in the state like BESCOM (Bangalore Electricity Supply Company). AAP, which intends to contest in the upcoming Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections, promoted the power tariffs followed in New Delhi, where the party is in power for the second term.
As part of the campaign, AAP volunteers will go door to door with the website/app and inform the public about the Delhi government’s policies. In the website, one can put their current electricity bill amount and get how much their electricity bill will change under the new rates and how much the same would have cost in the national capital. In Delhi, consumers who use up to 200 units of electricity in a month get a zero bill.
“People choose governments who should provide basic necessities. The government of Karnataka has not just failed in providing support but instead is constantly increasing the burden on its people. It is estimated that people in our country, on average, have lost 50% of their income. At a time like this, the BS Yeddyurappa government has implemented a heartless increase of 6% in the cost of a basic necessity like electricity,” said Pruthvi Reddy, the state convenor of the party.
Demanding that the Karnataka government withdraw the power price hike, AAP said that in the wake of the pandemic, while many governments across the world have provided financial support to the public, the state government has increased power prices by 6%, making it one of the most expensive states for domestic electricity.
Earlier, the Congress, led by its state president DK Shivakumar, had threatened statewide protests starting from November 17 if the state government does not withdraw the tariff hike.