Annual power bill limit for BPL families raised to Rs 12K

Kurukshetra, May 2

In a major relief to the people whose below poverty line (BPL) cards were cancelled due to the parameter of the annual electricity bill exceeding the limit of Rs 9,000, fixed by the government to stay in the category, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today announced to increase the annual limit to Rs 12,000.

The CM said the beneficiaries would start getting ration from this month.

On the second day of his three-day Jan Samvad programme, the CM visited Dhurala, Jyotisar and Abhimanyupur villages.

Khattar said, “Families with annual electricity bills up to Rs 12,000 will now be eligible for the BPL ration cards, and will start receiving ration from this month. However, the other parameters to assess the annual income for the BPL cards will remain the same. The ration cards which were cancelled due to the parameter of power bills exceeding Rs 9,000 will be restored, if the annual bill remains up to Rs 12,000.”

During the programme, the CM directed the officials to inspect and close illegal vends after some women at Jyotisar village informed the CM that liquor was being sold in Indra Colony through illegal liquor vends. The CM announced a community centre for the village.

The sarpanch of Raogarh village lauded the CM for implementing e-tendering and said the initiative would ensure transparency in the work and would also protect the sarpanches from various allegations. The CM announced to make the sarpanch the brand ambassador for e-tendering in Haryana.

The CM said, “Jyotisar has a great importance from religious and historical point of view and the state government is developing this area as a religious tourist destination.”

During the Jan Samvad at Dhurala village, the CM assured the villagers that their every demand regarding development works which had been raised before him would be fulfilled at the earliest.

He said, “Dedicated efforts have been made to further strengthen infrastructure of colleges, universities, medical colleges and health services. People are getting direct benefits of the welfare schemes being run by the state government. For the automated ration card project, Kurukshetra was the first district selected under the pilot project and till now, 44,000 new ration cards have been generated in Kurukshetra district only.”

Following the repeated complaints related to the poor condition of village ponds, the CM told the village sarpanches that they could get the cleaning work related to the ponds done at their own level. For this, they had to give their grievance in writing to the local BDPO office and whatever funds were required would be provided to them.

CM’s political secy Krishan Bedi resigns?

Rumours were rife on Tuesday that former Shahabad MLA and CM’s political secretary Krishan Bedi had resigned from his post. He could not be contacted for comments despite repeated attempts, while other BJP leaders said they were busy with the CM’s programme and were not aware of any such development.

3 AAP leaders detained

• Three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, including Sumit Hindustani and Jagbir Singh, were detained at the house of the former by the police after the AAP leaders threatened to protest against the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar during his Jan Samvad programmes
• Kurukshetra SP Surinder Singh Bhoria said as a preventive measure, the three leaders were detained to maintain law and order situation during the CM’s visit