Assam Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary, who earlier advised people to sit under trees to combat soaring power bills amid the scorching heat wave conditions that are sweeping the state, has been found to have installed at least twenty-two air conditioners at his official residence.
Reportedly, the air conditioners were installed in the prayer room and in each bedroom of the Speaker’s official residence, including the rooms of the security personnel.
This has drawn wide-scale criticism from a section of the population and opposition.
People have been saying that a person who is habituated to using 22 air conditioners at his home cannot understand the problem of extreme heat.
Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayasatha, who earlier sat under the trees in front of Daimary’s official residence, told IANS: “A person who has been literally using ACs in every corner of his residence is giving people advice to sit beneath the trees. This is an absolute mockery of the people. I believe that he has insulted the citizens of the state.”
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Sushmita Dev said, “A government is always for the people. But what we have been constantly witnessing is that BJP leaders are experts at insulting people’s sentiments. Daimary’s statements are the latest in that list.”
Earlier, Daimary said: “The power tariffs have increased, and people should avoid excessive use of fans to save electricity bills. Instead, everybody should sit under trees to combat rising tariffs.”
He further said that the Assam government does not have enough of its own production of electricity to meet the daily needs of consumers, and the state is heavily dependent on private companies for electricity.
“If the power companies are hiking the tariffs, the state government should pass that on to the consumers, and people have to pay. So, I believe that an increase in power tariffs is not at all an issue, and consumers must pay the bills against their usage,” Daimary added.
Despite facing criticism, the Speaker chose to stand by his remarks. “I have said nothing wrong. People are taking my comments with the wrong notions,” he said on Wednesday.
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