Don't pay arrears of raised power tariffs: Amarinder

Jalandhar, July 24 (IANS) Former Punjab chief minister and state Congress president Amarinder Singh Tuesday asked people not to pay the arrears of the recently-hiked power tariff in the state.

Addressing a protest demonstration here, 150 km from Chandigarh, to oppose the power tariff hike and the move by the Punjab government to impose fresh taxes, Amarinder Singh said that the Congress will oppose the new taxes and the hike in power tariff retrospectively.

Terming the retrospective hike unjustified and illegal, he said: "Even if you have to raise the tariff you cannot raise it retrospectively as it is illegal."

He said that the cash-starved Akali Dal-led government was all set up impose fresh taxes of Rs. 9,000 crore on people in Punjab.

"The Congress will not let that happen. The state government is bankrupt and now it had started imposing taxes on the people for generating revenue," he said.

He said that additional tax was being imposed on sugar and mobile sets.

Amarinder Singh said that the populist free power for farmers scheme of the Punjab government was a farce as no electricity was being supplied to them during the paddy sowing season. Farmers were spending crores of rupees to irrigate fields with generators, he said