By Bizodisha, Bhubaneswar, March 30, 2015 :

The Naveen Patnaik government on Monday announced to file a review petition in the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC), a statutory authority, to reconsider its recent power tariff hike, particularly in the farm sector segment.

The OERC had announced a hike of 40 paise per unit in the farm segment.

State energy minister Pranab Prakash Das, making an announcement in the Assembly, said the decision to file the review petition in the OERC was taken after taking into consideration the feelings of the House and demands made by many organizations.

“Taking into consideration the debates and discussions in the House during its current session on the electricity tariff hike, the energy department has decided to file a review petition before the OERC for roll back/withdrawal of increased tariff pertaining to agriculture. The OERC will be requested to adjust it through cross subsidy in the tariff order,” the energy minister Mr Das told newsmen outside the House.

After the announcement by the minister, the Opposition Congress and BJP appeared a little pacified and declared to cooperate with the Speaker for smooth functioning of the business of the Assembly.

“The government has partially accepted our demand. Had the government admitted our demand for rollback of power tariff hike across all sections, we would have been more happy,” said Leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra.

BJP legislator Rabi Naik, while declaring that his party would cooperate with the conduct of the business of the House, said the demand for complete rollback of the power tariff hike would continue.

In fact, the Congress and BJP have announced to extend their cooperation to the one-day hartal by the Odisha Bidyut Upobhokta Mahasangha, an association of electricity consumers, on Tuesday.