CHENNAI: CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan on Monday wrote to Chief Minister MK Stalin seeking his intervention to scrap the proposal to link consumer’s Aadhaar with service connection, rolling back charging of high tariff for domestic common connection and steep hike of tariff for the MSMEs.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Balakrishnan said that people are shocked over Tangedco’s decision to link Aadhaar with consumer numbers at the behest of the Centre, which wants to do away with 100 free units. “What is the need to link Aadhaar after the electricity minister announced that 100 units of free electricity will not be taken away? This has created a lot of fear among the general public and especially among the people living on rent,” he said.

Marxist leader said that people living in the apartments are facing a double whammy of a hike in domestic electricity and common usage tariffs. “As people are living with their families in the flats, the question arises as to how the commercial use came about and the people and resident associations are expressing their displeasure,” he noted.

The MSME sector have also been hit hard by electricity tariff hike to the extent that they are unable to do business, Balakrishnan said. “Lakhs of workers are at risk of losing their jobs,” he added.

Extend time limit: Annamalai

Meanwhile, BJP state president K Annamalai condemned the DMK government for not giving adequate time to link the Aadhaar with the consumer number. He further said that the Union government had given a year for the exercise to ensure the direct transfer of the subsidy amount to the consumers’ accounts. However, the senior officials of Tangedco are blaming the Centre for the poor handling of the exercise. He demanded the state to extend the time limit till March 31 next year for linking Aadhaar with the service number.