Prayagraj: Under the leadership of Congress Gangapar District President Ashfaq Ahmed, a demonstration was held in the Soraon Tehsil complex and a memorandum was submitted to the Deputy District Officer, Soraon, in the name of the Governor.

In protest against smart prepaid meters which are breaking the backs of electricity consumers in Uttar Pradesh, today Congress party workers and general public in hundreds from Soraon block to Soraon tehsil under the leadership of District President Ashfaq Ahmed, termed this scheme of the government as open loot and tehsil complex SmartThe slogans of removing the meter echoed.The protesters clearly said that the government is picking the pockets of the poor in the name of development. And this will not be tolerated at any cost. Addressing the protest, Ashfaq Ahmed said in strong words that the electricity department is mentally and financially exploiting the general public in the name of smart meters. He alleged that old meters are being uprooted from consumers’ homes without any prior notice and electricity bills are increasing exponentially as soon as new meters are installed. Ahmed further said that the BJP government is imposing this system on the public to benefit the capitalists, due to which the farmers, laborers and middle class families are the most troubled. After the procession, a detailed demand letter addressed to His Excellency the Governor was handed over through Sub-Collector Soraon. In the memorandum, a large number of local women, youth and Congress officials took part in this historic demonstration mainly to cancel the smart meter scheme and restore the old meters, due to which there was a stir in the tehsil administration throughout the dayOn this occasion, Assembly in-charge Nisha Singh, Ashish Pandey, Sharad Upadhyay Munna, Dr. Jagat Narayan Singh, Sunil Pandey, Manju Maurya, Dr. Amar Singh Patel, Ritesh Pasi, Panchu Pasi, Mohd. Farooq, Sangeeta Patel, Vinod Tiwari, Sushma Pal, Dheeraj Patel, Rajesh Patel, Dayaram Patel, Piyush Kapoor, Suryamani, Dr Rajesh Srivastava, Ramesh Maurya, Sitara Devi, Mohd. Arman, Usha Devi etc. were present.