Assam power tariff is less compared to other states, says Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati: In an unprecedented move, Assam assembly speaker Biswajit Daimary on Monday accepted all the adjournment motions brought by the opposition on different issues.

The speaker agreed to accept the adjournment motion on advice of chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who said, if the motions were disallowed, the opposition parties would stage a walkout.

It is significant that on the opening day of the state assembly the opposition Congress and two other MLAs brought two motions on the issue of frequent load-shedding in power supply.

Another motion for adjournment was brought by the AIUDF on arms training in the school premises in a camp organised by Hindu group in Mangaldai some time back, while the fourth pertained to risk to river embankments that was brought by Congress MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed.

After the MLAs spoke on the admissibility of the motions, Sarma requested the Speaker to allow the motions.  He argued that if the motions were disallowed, the opposition parties would stage a walkout.

“It is for the first time that the Assam assembly is meeting in its permanent hall since the capital of the state moved from Shillong to Dispur. I don't want it to start with a walkout," the chief minister said.

Accepting the chief minister's request, the Speaker Daimary agreed to accept the adjournment motions. While replying to the adjournment motion on frequent load-shedding and irregular power supply, Sarma clarified that the power tariff in Assam, compared to other states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, is less.

He also claimed that the load shedding issue has been addressed and that for the past two days there has been no load shedding in the state. “As there is no power generation and we are a dependent state, hence we have to look into areas to arrest the issue. Soon the state will get a semiconductor with 40K crore investment”, said Sarma.

The chief minister said that the state only generates 400 MWs of power at a cost of Rs 9 and hence the tariff at domestic category is less compared to other states.

“On issues related to power consumption across households where smart meters have been put up, the consumption has come down drastically to 60 per cent and which is actually very positive as people are now alert and judiciously use power”, said Sarma.

Earlier the chief minister unveiled the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the premises of the new building of the Assam Legislative Assembly. The five-day autumn session of the Assam Legislative Assembly began on Monday.

This is the first time that the session is being held at the newly constructed Assam Assembly Building. Various bills including the amendment bill of Panchayati Raj, and several universities bills will be introduced in the session.