Bandi Sanjay Kumar asks people not to pay ACD charges

Karimnagar: The Telangana State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Sunday asked people not to pay Additional Consumption Deposit (ACD) along with electricity bill charges.

Addressing the media after attending the 'Mann Ki Baat' in Karimnagar, he asked why people should pay ACD charges for the inefficiency of the K Chandrashekar Rao government in bailing out the distribution companies.

He said the consumers have already been burdened with a whopping Rs 6,000 crore on account of increased power tariff and government ready to hit them with another round of increase of Rs 16,000 crore from April. In addition to these, the government is asking to pay ACD charges.

Sanjay called CM KCR's claims of providing free power to the agriculture sector a blatant lie. The State government owes Rs 60,000 crore to the power utilities against the free power supply. Power utilities are virtually facing the threat of bankruptcy. The government departments alone owe Rs 20,000 crore to the Discoms. If the BJP comes to power, it shall clear all these dues. This would mean it will be the BJP, not KCR, who has provided free power to farmers, he said.

Further, he asked people to ask CM KCR why he did not recover huge power bill dues and penalties in the old city of Hyderabad. He is trying to pamper the AIMIM and when we question the same, we are being accused of being communal, he criticised.

Sanjay called it shameful on the part of KCR to say that there were no farmers suicides in Telangana. Quoting the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures, the state stood in the fourth position, in farmers' suicides. "Out of 90,000 farmers who had received compensation under the Rythu Bima scheme, nearly 10,000 deaths were only by suicides. Who is responsible for their deaths?" he asked. Ridiculing KCR's claim that he would make farmers MLAs, the BJP president said the claim was as true as making a Dalit the chief minister of Telangana. The chief minister should first explain how many farmers and women were inducted into his cabinet, he said. Sanjay alleged that KCR had completely duped the farming community.

Many villages in the State were not getting drinking water supply under the Mission Bhagiratha scheme, Sanjay said the quality of water was so poor that it was unfit even for washing clothes.

"It is ridiculous that KCR is talking about surplus water availability in the country when he is not able to utilise the available water within the state," he said.

He reiterated his demand for the publication of a white paper on the wealth amassed by KCR and his family members in the last eight years. He also challenged the chief minister for a debate on the development and borrowings of Telangana. Earlier, Sanjay conducted special prayers at Lord Anjaneya Swamy temple at Kondagattu in Jagtial district, along with other senior leaders.