Assam CM Sarma criticises Congress, urges support for BJP in upcoming by-elections
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took aim at the Congress, accusing it of obstructing development and lacking commitment to public welfare.
Congress MP Partap Singh Bajwa on Monday slammed the major telecos for raising tariff rates and urged the central government to stop the giants from ‘acting like the East India Company,’ reports stated.
Bajwa’s statement comes a day after Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio announced a massive increase in their prepaid plan tariffs in the range between 15 to 47 per cent for voice calls and data packs.
“First they were made to give cheap calls by giving cheap data and after that money is now being recovered from their pockets,” the member of parliament from Punjab province was quoted as saying by indiatoday.in.
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“We demand from the government that private companies should be stopped from acting like the East India Company,” Bajwa was quoted as saying in the same report.
Meanwhile, veteran Congress politician Kapil Sibal took a dig at the ongoing issue between government and the telecos and asked why the telecom sector was in a debt for around Rs 8 lakh crore in the first place.
He further blamed the BJP-led government for the new tariff rates, which fell drastically when Reliance’s Jio was launched in the sector.
Monthly budget of over a billion users across the country will be affected after the new tariffs come into effect.
Airtel and Vodafone are due to implement the new prepaid plans from December 3, whereas Reliance Jio will launch the new plans on December 6.
Currently, the industry is burdened with debt of over Rs 7.8 lakh crore. Experts believe that the rise in prepaid plans will help in boosting the average revenue per user (ARPU).
(With input from agencies)
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