CM Mann: 300 units of free power from July 1
CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Bhagwant Mann on Saturday announced 300 units of free electricity each month for every household in the state from July 1. Addressing a gathering at an event in Chandigarh, he also said there would be no increase in the electricity tariff for industrial consumers while free power to the farming community will continue.
“From July 1, 2022, each household in Punjab will get free electricity of 300 units per month. And it will be 600 units for two months,” the chief minister said in a video message on Saturday. Punjab has a twomonth billing cycle for power supply.
He said except for scheduled caste and backward class families, if electricity consumption exceeds 600 units in two months, then the consumer will have to pay for the entire power usage. Scheduled Castes, backward castes, below-poverty-line households and freedom fighters currently getting free 200 units each month will now get 300 units of electricity monthly.
But if their electricity consumption exceeds 600 units in two months, they will be charged just for over and above 600 units, he clarified.
The state’s information and public relations department had put out advertisements with the announcement in various newspapers that came out on Saturday morning. This was one of the major poll promises of the AAP during the Punjab assembly election. The party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal had promised free electricity of up to 300 units for the state in June last year. Mann also announced waiving arrears of electricity bills pending till December 31, 2021, of those households having up to a two-kilowatt load. Moreover, he said there would be no increase in the electricity tariff for industrial and commercial consumers while free power to the farming community would continue.
The Punjab chief minister further said his government would ensure round-the-clock electricity supply to every village and town in two to three years. He said that his government would also provide the cheapest electricity in the country to the state’s consumers.
AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, in a tweet, said what was promised has been honoured and after Delhi, the people of Punjab will also now get free electricity.
Mann on Thursday had said in Jalandhar that “good news” would be announced on April 16.
Mann had met Kejriwal in Delhi on Tuesday to discuss the modalities of providing free electricity for up to 300 units in Punjab. The Delhi chief minister had also met senior officials of Punjab, including chief secretary Anirudh Tewari, to discuss the issue of free electricity.
Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira asked Mann why free electricity would be provided from July only and whether power consumers will have to pay the full bill if their consumption exceeds 300 units.
The Bholath MLA, in a tweet, said, “I welcome Bhagwant Mann for fulfilling his promise of 300 units of free electricity but why wait till 1st July? Is there an issue of fiscal management? And please clarify if the bill is 301 units will the consumers be charged the full bill? Lastly any move to do away with tubewell subsidy?”