On Tuesday, Arvind Kejriwal’s promise for free power in Punjab on the lines of Delhi addresses a troubling poll issue in the northern state where the consumers had been paying high electricity bills and were upset on that count before elections, with both the former Akali Dal-BJP regime as well as the Congress Government.
In the second visit to the state, Arvind Kejriwal seemed to be completing the election list for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that could be major factors in Punjab for 2022.
In the previous week, he promised a Jat Sikh CM face of AAP, which he had no projected in the 2017 elections. Whereas now, Mr Kejriwal was set to promise cheaper power in Punjab like Delhi and also resolve to scrap and renegotiate the lopsided power purchase agreements with private companies which ran power plants in Punjab.
AAP would make a case that if these agreements were not reworked then the people would suffer for two decades.
Captain Amarinder Singh was rode to power in the year 2017 while promising to scrap the power purchase agreements and to renegotiate it, however even after four and a half years, nothing had changed, as per News18.
With an obvious plan for the 2022 elections and to give relief to the public, the CM said that the electricity tarragon was reduced in the state in May up to Rs 1 per unit for the small consumers.
For the consumers with a load up to 2 kw and consumption up to 100 units, the rate was reduced by Rs 1, whereas for the consumption between 101 to 300 units, the rate had been reduced by 50 paisa, and the consumers of a load between 2 kw to 7 kw got a reduced rate of 75 paisa and 50 paisa.
For Punjab, Kejriwal’s promise might be on the lines of Delhi where the power is free for the first 200 units and the consumers between of 200 and 400 units got 50 per cent subsidy on the bills. Arvind Kejriwal had claimed that 74 per cent of people in Delhi had to pay zero bill and that he would bring the same for Punjab soon.
Harpal Cheema, AAP leader in the Punjab Assembly, said that the most expensive electricity was provided in Punjab despite the state being a producer of electricity. She said that CM Amarinder Singh did not deliver his promise to scrap the power purchase agreements but instead had increased tariff over the years. She added that the people’s monthly household budget had only been burdened with the heavy electricity bills and that Arvind Kejriwal would lay out a complete plan for reducing the electricity tariff in Punjab.