The 18-party United Opposition Forum in Assam on Friday staged a joint demonstration in front of the Bijulee Bhawan here demanding an immediate halt to the installation of prepaid smart meters in domestic households as it has resulted in “unexpected and exorbitant electricity bills”.
Members of the Opposition organisations staged the dharna from 11am to 1pm, submitted a memorandum to the APDCL brass and asserted they would pursue the issue till their demand is met.
Opposition insiders said that the protests and dharnas will only grow in run-up to the upcoming Assembly bypolls and the panchayat elections as it is a “people’s issue”. Protests have been launched across the state since the begining of this month.
The state government has said that there was nothing wrong in the smart meters with chief minister urging consumers to compare their electricity bills from July and August this year with the corresponding months last year to dispel notion of inflated billing.
Assam PCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah said the prepaid smart meters is one of the biggest issues in Assam currently having touched everybody.
The replacement of the “old analogue meters with new smart meters” has seen domestic consumers saddled with double their monthly power bill.
“In other words, the financially-bankrupt Assam government has deployed the so-called smart meters to extort money from ordinary people. The common people are very angry about this, and there has been much discussion in the media. Today, the United Opposition Forum organised the Bijulee Bhawan gherao programme,” Borah said.
Assam Jatiya Parishad president Lurinjyoti Gogoi said the pre-paid smart meters has to be withdrawn or they will continue with their protests across the state against “this loot raj” by the BJP-led state government. He also said the smart meter is actually a “smart dacoit the way it is looting the general public”.
Among those who participated included CLP leader Debabrata Saikia, Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Bhuyan and Raijor Dal’s Rasel Hussain and Bhasco De Saikia.
