Left parties demand immediate withdrawal of power tariff hikes, smart meters

Cadres of the CPI and CPI(M) on Thursday paid homage to the persons who were killed in the police firing during the agitation against hiked power charges at Basheerbagh in Hyderabad 25 years ago. The cadres said that the spirit of sacrifice shown by the “martyrs” — Ramakrishna, Balaswamy, and Vishnuvardhan Reddy — should continue to inspire the younger generation to fight the rising power charges and installation of smart meters.

Speaking at a memorial meeting at Greamspet here, CPI district secretary S. Nagaraju and CPI(M) district secretary Vada Gangaraju said that the Basheerbagh agitation would always be a red mark in the history of combined Andhra Pradesh, symbolising the State-sponsored oppression. The leaders observed that the movement had then forced the government to withdraw power hikes, resulting in stability of the tariffs till 2015.

The leaders demanded Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to immediately withdraw the tariff hike and cancel the installation of smart meters, cautioning that they would intensify the agitation if their demands were not met.

The Left parties accused the TDP-led coalition government of betraying its poll promises. They said that it was an irony that some of the current Ministers, while in the opposition, had called on the farmers to destroy the smart meters. However, the same Ministers were now silent to the hardships of the farmers, with officials expediting the installation of the meters, they added.