Rally Against Smart Meters:
In a two-hour demonstration on Monday, the Assam Tea Tribes Student Association (ATTSA) protested outside the APDCL Margherita Sub-Divisional Engineer’s office. Led by the Margherita and Pengree branch committees, the protest featured slogans against Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Power Minister Nandita Garlosa, and senior APDCL officials.
The protest drew over 100 ATTSA members who expressed their discontent with the implementation of smart meters. Pranjal Baraik, Joint Publicity Secretary of the ATTSA Central Executive Committee, criticized the smart meters, asserting they had severely impacted the financial stability of tea garden workers. “It is very unfortunate that smart meters have ruined our hard-earned income, making it difficult to survive,” Baraik remarked.
Baraik further accused the state government of “smartly looting” tea garden workers via the smart meters. The ATTSA issued a seven-day ultimatum for the replacement of smart meters with post-paid meters. They warned of escalated agitation if their demands were not met, holding the Margherita Sub-Divisional Administration and Margherita Police accountable for any ensuing incidents.
A memorandum was submitted to the Margherita APDCL Sub-Divisional Engineer as part of the protest.
