Power still costlier in Haryana: Delhi CM

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 12

A day after Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced slashing of power tariff in the state, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the rates were still higher than those in Delhi and people got bills, but no electricity in Haryana villages.

In two Hindi tweets from his twitter handle @ArvindKejriwal on Wednesday, the Delhi CM also asked Khattar to follow Delhi’s tariff slabs.

In his first tweet, Kejriwal said that ‘Khattar Saab’ (Haryana CM) had reduced power tariff, but the reduction was too meagre. Haryana should provide electricity at the rates Delhi people have been getting.

In most villages of Haryana, people get bills only, because electricity often plays truant. Like Delhi, Haryana should also provide 24-hour power supply to its people, he said in his next tweet.

Reacting sharply to Kejriwal’s tweets, state BJP chief Subhash Barala claimed the electricity rates announced by the chief minister on Tuesday were lesser than those in Delhi.

“Ever since the BJP has come to power, continuous efforts have been made to improve the power situation in the state. Out of the 6,200 villages of Haryana, 1,750 villages of seven districts have started getting 24-hour power supply. The government is in the process of strengthening transmission lines to start 24-hours power supply in the rest of the villages very soon,” he claimed.

The situation was very bad when the BJP took over in 2014, but the Khattar-led government had not only reduced line losses considerably but also reformed Discoms from loss-making enterprises to profit-making ones, Barala added.