AGARTALA, July 8 (TIWN): Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath on Tuesday blamed people’s ignorance of technology for their complaints against newly installed smart meters across Tripura households. “The bills are increasing because of 10% charge hikes, but it does not mean that the meters are faulty,” said the Minister. “You have to see who is complaining. Are they technicians? No, they are non-technical people. If any technical person comes to argue against these meters, it would be accepted,” said Nath.

WATCH : Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath said people protesting against Smart Meter due to technical ignorance.

“You may be a ‘pandit’, but it does not mean you are an expert in a particular area,” he said.

The government is giving subsidies for electric bills. There is a 10% rise in electric bills since April, effective from April. People are paying bills this month, but it includes the April, and May arrears too,” he added.

“However, to decrease the load, the arrears were divided into two months, but from September, the bill will again be normal,” he said.

“How can smart meters be blamed, when only 90,000 smart meters were provided across the state? I did not receive the smart meter either. So there is absolutely no link between increased bills and smart meters,” Nath told the media.

“When mobile phones came, then only people protested, and in the same way, new digital meters are also being protested. It’s not unusual when a new technology is launched,” the minister said.

ALSO WATCH : Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath informed the media that within the next year all the electric wires in Agartala.