AIADMK govt. never hiked power tariff despite joining UDAY scheme: EPS

Leader of Opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday said despite Tamil Nadu joining the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme during his regime, AIADMK did not increase electricity tariff in the State till he was in power between 2017 – 2021.

Mr. Palaniswami’s reaction comes in the wake of charges made by Tamil Nadu’s Industries Minister T.R.B. Rajaa that the existing electricity tariff hike was due to the then AIADMK government joining the Central scheme way back in 2017. As a result, the State has to witness steady increase in power tariff under the scheme.

“We joined the scheme (UDAY) after the Centre fulfilled our two conditions, such as dropping the condition to increase the electricity tariff once in three months, and farmers should not be forced to fix electricity meters to assess total power consumption by pump sets used by them,” he said.

The AIADMK leader, who was here as part of his State-wide tour, said that despite joining the UDAY scheme, the AIADMK-led government never increased the electricity tariff till the party was in power in early 2021. On the other hand, the DMK government has consistently increased power tariffs for the past four years, confusing voters into thinking that the power tariff increase was due to the AIADMK, he said.

Highlighting lawlessness in the State with rising crime against women, children and senior citizens, Mr. Palaniswami blamed the DMK government for not allowing Tamil Nadu police to function in a free and fair manner. As a result, criminals have lost fear of police personnel and have dared to murder them, he alleged.

The former Chief Minister said that the arrest of Madurai Mayor Indrani’s husband Pon Vasanth by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that is investigating the multi-crore property tax scam of the Madurai Corporation reflects the level of corruption by DMK partymen in the State.