Tata Power accused of unethical practices, Odisha farmers hit streets

Smart meter uproar continues in Bargarh as hundreds of farmers in the district took to the streets and dumped the electricity meters outside the Tata Power office on Thursday alleging unethical practices by the company.

As per reports, the farmers joined the protest in response to the call by Saheed Madho Singh Regional Farmers’ Organisation. A large number of farmers assembled in front of the Tata Power office to dump around 3000 smart meters and voice their grievances accusing the power company of wrong and inflated billing.

The protesting farmers alleged that while the smart meters installed at different houses are showing bills of around Rs 1,000, smart meters installed at farmlands are showing bills of around Rs 3,000 per month which is not acceptable. They also raised their voices against frequent low voltage and power cut issues in their areas.

Various farmer organisations have warned that they will intensify their protests further if their issues are not addressed immediately.

“Not only farmers but regular household consumers are also being deceived by the company. We are against the installation of smart meters as we believe they are faulty and we are being wrongly charged. Around 3,000 meters were dumped at the office today. We will intensify our protest in coming days if our issues will not be addressed shortly,” said farmer leader and member of Sanjukta Krushak Sangathan, Ramesh Mahapatra.

“Earlier we used to pay a minimal amount of electric bill. However, after the installation of smart meters, the farmers have to pay around Rs 40,000 electric bill per year. There is also addition of penalty to the bill. Under the circumstances, how a farmer will sustain?  The smart meters should not be installed as it is showing huge amount of bill,” he added.

However, no comments could be obtained from Tata Power officials over the allegations.