CITU held statewide demonstrations against the privatization of electricity and railways
CITU State Committee held statewide demonstrations at all district headquarters, electricity offices, and railway stations against the privatization of electricity and railways, the smart pre-paid meter policy, and the Electricity Bill 2022. A strong demonstration was held at Shimla railway station. The protesters gathered at Shimla railway station and kept raising slogans against the policies of the Modi government for two hours.
Addressing the demonstration, CITU state president Vijendra Mehra and general secretary Prem Gautam demanded the withdrawal of the smart pre-paid meter scheme. He demanded a ban on the privatization of electricity and railways. He demanded the repeal of the Electricity Bill 2022. He said that the Modi government at the Center is intent on selling the power sector to private companies. Electricity Bill 2022 is the result of this. The central government has decided to install smart pre-paid meters in the electricity sector. Himachal government has also invited tenders for installing these meters. Licenses will be given to private companies to install smart meters and provide electricity. In this way, privatization of the electricity board itself will start.
Railways is the cheapest means of transport in India. The central government is privatizing the railways. Railway stations are being sold to private companies at throwaway prices. Rail travel is becoming increasingly expensive. Many private trains have been allowed to run. The fares of these private trains are very high. Privatization will put a huge economic burden on the general public and employment will reduce. Railway travel will become very expensive due to huge fares. Privatization of railway restrooms will put an additional burden of hundreds of rupees on the public. With privatization, cheap railway travel will become expensive like air travel and there will be a night and day difference in the reservation and fare of railway tickets as per the booking time slot compared to before.
He said that with the installation of a pre-paid electricity smart meter, like a mobile phone, when the money runs out, the smart meter will stop working and the electricity supply to the house will be disrupted. The rate of smart meters is very high, the cost of which will be recovered from the customers only. The life of the meter will also be a maximum of seven to eight years. With the implementation of the smart meter scheme, the electricity sector will automatically be privatized as the distribution of electricity will go into the hands of private companies. Private power companies will use substations and other infrastructure built by government electricity boards for their profits. With this, the technical staff posted in the offices and fields of the Electricity Board will automatically be dismissed from their jobs. When the Electricity Board will no longer exist then from where will the pensioners get their pension. Due to the installation of smart meters, electricity bills of consumers will increase by thousands of rupees due to which poor people and the middle class will be deprived of electricity. Due to the installation of smart meters, subsidies of poor and middle-class people will be stopped and they will not get free electricity. Companies will sell electricity at very high rates to make profits or gains. Due to the installation of fewer smart meters, electricity rates will be different during the day and night. In case of electricity failure, the cost of repairing it will be recovered from the public. Smart meter schemes will prove disastrous for small-scale industries, shopkeepers, flour mill and saw machine operators, poor and middle class.
