All Political parties join to show might against Reliance Infra

A steep hike in tariff, allegedly by about 300 increase in the past 5 years per unit, in suburban Mumbai where Reliance Infrastructure caters to around 28 lakh consumers has led to violent protests by political parties. Political parties, have called for government intervention to roll back the hike. There is massive unrest among consumers over the tariff hike.Reliance has imposed severe tariff hike on 28 lakh consumers in suburbs while the people are already grappling with overall price rise. Frustrated at paying 'inflated' electricity bills, consumers of Reliance Infra (RInfra) are switching over to TATA Power Company (TPC) for cheaper electricity. It is total exploitation by Reliance. There are three rates of electricity, one is TATA, the other is BEST and then even Reliance had their own rates. In this Reliance have the highest rates. Within few months arrears will also come and people will have to pay through their nose," complained a resident.“Mumbai is the only city where people are paying different rates for power. There cannot be any justice as to why suburban residents should pay more than those living in South Mumbai. The government should have a uniform power tariff. If there are issues related to companies supplying power, it should subsidise the cost in public interest,” said Mumbai BJP president Raj Purohit. The BJP has decided to file a petition in the Bombay high court against the government’s policy. Sena was among the first to raise the noise over steep power prices in the western suburbs. But gradually, the BJP has made the agitation a common cause. To negate the public sentiments against Congress and NCP, the Congress also came out to show its concern on the matter.RInfra, meanwhile, has blamed Tata Power for the suburban fare hike. In a statement, Reliance Infra said that the high tariff disparity among the Mumbai distribution companies is due to a disproportionate capacity allocation by Tata Power. Tata Power Company, by keeping Mumbai consumers power-starved has displayed its profiteering attitude and exploited the shortage economy by selling power to states like Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. This is despite RInfra’s request with Tata Power and readiness to sign long-term purchase agreement for city consumers, which was turned down.