Congress Warns TRS Against Hike In Power Tariff, RTC Fares

Former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir warned the TRS government against increasing the power tariff and RTC fares in the state.

Reacting to reports of proposed hikes in the power tariff and RTC fares, Shabbir Ali warned the TRS government of mass agitation if the common people were burdened.

"The lockdown due to Covid-19 has badly hit the economy. Lakhs of people have either lost their jobs or seen their incomes decrease. They are already facing huge economic problems due to an increase in fuel prices, and in the prices of other products and services. At this juncture, hikes in the power tariff and RTC fares will break their backbones," he said.

"The TRS leaders did not speak about any hike in the power tariff or the RTC fares till yesterday due to the Huzurabad by-election. Once the by-election was over, the ruling party leaders threw away their fake masks of being people-friendly. I'm quite confident that CM KCR will not implement Dalit Bandhu or fulfill any other promise he made during the by-election irrespective of whether the TRS wins or loses the election," he said.

The Congress leader also slammed the BJP government at the Centre and the TRS government in Telangana for the rising inflation.

He said that the petrol and diesel prices in Telangana were the highest in the country due to the Central taxes and the State's VAT.

The rise in fuel prices had also led to an increase in prices of essential commodities and services, putting a huge burden on the common man, Shabbir Ali lamented.

He said that if KCR was really worried about the rising fuel prices, then he could easily write a letter to the Centre asking it to bring petroleum products under GST, and that KCR was clearly hand-in-glove with the Centre where the fuel prices were concerned.