Haripada Das
DISPLAYING insensitivity toward crisis-ridden working people already struggling for livelihood, the Tripura government has further compounded their hardships by installing smart meters for electricity consumers, sharply hiking electricity tariffs, imposing multiple additional charges on electricity bills, increasing PNG and CNG gas prices, raising water taxes through urban bodies, and even inflating the price of milk supplied by the state-run Gomati Milk Corporation.
Smart meters have caused serious concern among consumers. In several locations where they have been installed, users report meter readings that are five to ten times higher than their previous digital meters. Crowds of angry residents have gathered at electric sub-divisional offices to protest, but officials have failed to offer satisfactory explanations. This situation is being repeated across the state.
Adding to public outrage, the government raised electricity tariffs in July with retrospective effect from April 2025, announcing that arrears would be collected over the next three billing cycles. The Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd. (TSECL) also introduced various duty charges – fuel surcharge, sundry charges, and others – that amount to nearly 25 per cent of the base electricity cost, adding further financial burden to consumers.
The financial distress of TSECL, brought on by mismanagement, is stark. Once known as a power-surplus state under the Left Front, exporting up to 160 MW of electricity to Bangladesh and ensuring a load-shedding-free supply to the North-East, Tripura is now grappling with frequent power cuts and supply disruptions.
Key power generation sources have collapsed: the Baramura thermal plant (42 MW) is now shut; the Rokhia plant’s output has dropped from 63 MW to 21 MW; and the Dumboor Hydel Project (10 MW), despite sufficient reservoir levels, has also been closed. Only the Palatana plant managed by ONGC and NEEPCO's units at RC Nagar and Monarchak continue to supply power, albeit insufficiently.
In rural areas, outages sometimes take weeks or months to be restored, prompting agitated residents to block roads in protest. The power minister has admitted that, due to severe staff shortages, 40 per cent of urban and 50 per cent of rural electricity consumers are not even receiving their bills.
Faced with financial instability caused by its own misgovernance, the TSECL has shifted the burden onto the public. Widespread protests across the state –especially ahead of the upcoming Sharad Festival – have forced the government to temporarily slow down the smart meter installation drive. However, it has not withdrawn the plan, and the meters continue to be seen by many as instruments for extracting money from the public.
At the call of the Tripura Left Front Committee, a statewide mass stay-in protest was held on July 30, 2025, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., demanding a rollback of the steep hikes in electricity tariffs, gas prices, water and milk charges, and opposing the ongoing installation of smart meters. The protest saw massive participation across all sub-divisional headquarters, from the northern to the southern ends of the state, with large numbers of aggrieved citizens joining in.
Leaders of CPI(M), CPI, RSP, and Forward Bloc addressed the gatherings at various locations. In Agartala, a major protest site, senior CPI(M) leader Manik Sarkar, CPI(M) state secretary and Polit Bureau member Jitendra Chaudhury, Left Front convener and Central Committee member Manik Dey, CPI state secretary Milan Baidya, RSP leader Joy Gobinda Debroy, and Forward Bloc leader Raghunath Sarkar addressed the gathering.
Despite the scorching sun and intermittent rainfall, participants remained steadfast to hear the speakers.
In his address, Manik Sarkar recalled the Prime Minister’s 2018 election promise of generous central allocations if a "double-engine" government came to power in Tripura. Today, he said, the issue is not how much central funding has increased, but how little of it has been used for public welfare. Instead, media reports frequently expose rampant corruption, with crores of rupees allegedly siphoned off by ruling party intermediaries, many of whom have become suspiciously wealthy in a short time.
He further exposed infighting among BJP factions over the division of illicit gains, which has often spilled onto the streets violently. Meanwhile, the government remains indifferent to the looting of public funds, as the perpetrators form the ruling party’s grassroots machinery, he said.
Manik Sarkar accused the state of cracking down on public protests using sections of the police, paralysing opposition activities, and falsely implicating hundreds of opposition leaders and activists. He described the BJP’s rule in Tripura as an "undeclared emergency," which, he said, is more harrowing than the Emergency declared in 1975.
“If the government is truly facing a resource crunch, why is it picking the pockets of paupers instead of asking the corporate giants it has loyally served for so long?” he asked. Instead of relief, he said, the government has imposed sharp hikes in four essential sectors – electricity, milk, water, and gas. “It is time for the suffering masses to unite in a sustained struggle to force a rollback of the tariff hikes and the smart meter scheme,” Sarkar urged.
CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury criticised the BJP’s persistent use of divisive politics over the last 11 years, including in Tripura since 2018, to distract from its failures.
“Now that communal and parochial tactics are losing ground, the ruling party has turned to undermining democratic rights – suppressing dissent, curtailing the right to vote, and eroding fundamental freedoms – to maintain its pro-corporate agenda,” he said.
He linked the smart meter drive to a larger national plan, noting that of the 26 crore smart meters the centre aimed to install by 2022, less than 5 per cent were completed due to strong public resistance. “In Tripura too, today’s protest is only the beginning. We will not stop until this economic assault on the people is defeated,” Chaudhury declared.
Left Front convener Manik Dey warned of an impending electricity pricing shock through hour-based daytime differential tariffs enabled by smart meters. “The day will be divided into peak, medium-peak, and off-peak hours. This will replace the current slab-based system. During peak hours, private providers could charge up to Rs 50 per unit, as permitted by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission,” Dey said. He cautioned that this shift would turn electricity from a basic necessity into a luxury only the affluent can afford. “This is a corporate-designed model meant to hand over the entire electricity distribution sector to private hands,” he added.
Milan Baidya (CPI), Joy Gobinda Debroy (RSP), and Raghunath Sarkar (FB) echoed calls for a broad-based, united movement to resist the government’s pro-corporate, anti-people economic policies.
