After CPI (M), the opposition Congress on Monday organized massive protests across Tripura protesting against the installation of smart electric meters and the increase in electricity tariff.

The Congress held protest rallies and demonstrations in front of the offices of Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) in all eight districts, and they announced that they would continue their agitation if the government did not revoke its decision.

Congress leader Tanmoy Roy said that the TSECL, under the BJP government, without following the stipulated procedure and any prior announcement, secretly started installing smart meters in the premises of all consumers and increased the tariff of electricity last month.

“The BJP is playing a double standard role regarding the smart meter issue. They are protesting against the West Bengal government decision in Bengal and the BJP government in Tripura installing the smart meters against the wishes of the people,” he told the media in Agartala.

Roy said that in the name of sundries, duty charges, fuel charges, and power tariffs were increased secretly to a large extent, putting a huge burden on the common people.

Senior Congress leaders Prabir Chakraborty and Neel Kamal Saha addressed the demonstration in front of the TSECL headquarters here in Agartala.

On July 11, the CPI (M) held protest rallies and demonstrations across the state on similar issues. Meanwhile, the TSECL has set a target to install six lakh consumer-friendly smart meters across the state by March 2027. The state-owned corporation has already started to install the smart meters.

TSECL Managing Director Biswajit Basu earlier said that in alignment with the Union government's Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), six lakh smart meters would be installed in the premises of the electricity consumers.

Of the six lakh, around 88,750 smart meters have already been installed in the state so far, Basu had told the media. He said that the TSECL, in alignment with the Centre's RDSS and under the Asian Development Bank-funded projects, has taken significant strides in modernizing the state's power infrastructure through the installation of smart meters.

According to the TSECL Managing Director, the digital smart meters are equipped with communication technology that enables automated and remote reading of energy consumption by the consumers.

The smart meters provide real-time usage data to both consumers and TSECL, and these meters would abolish the existing manual meter reading system, he said.

The official added that smart meters would facilitate preparing both postpaid and prepaid billing, usage tracking through mobile apps, and quick fault detection for early resolution. Basu had said, adding that the project is likely to be completed by March 2027 with an estimated cost of Rs 603 crore.