Arvind Kejriwal making false promises: Punjab CM
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Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 5
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Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday slammed his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal for making false promises on free power in Punjab with an eye on the 2022 Assembly elections.
No free power for Delhi farmers
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My government is giving free power worth Rs 6,735 crore to 13,79,217 farmers, while the AAP has made no effort to extend a similar support to the community in the national capital. — Capt Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister
He alleged the Delhi power tariff structure was a case of organised loot by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, which was openly allowing private power distribution companies to fill their pockets by collecting excessively high tariffs at the cost of the common man.
While Delhi was charging Rs 9.80 per unit for industrial power, the Congress government was levying a subsidised tariff of Rs 5 per unit to attract the industry to Punjab, which had witnessed more than Rs 85,000 crore worth of investment visible on the ground in the last four years. Subsidised power was currently being given to 1,43,812 industrial units in Punjab with an annual subsidy of Rs 2,226 crore, he claimed.
“In sharp contrast to Punjab, where my government is giving free power worth Rs 6,735 crore to 13,79,217 farmers, the AAP government in Delhi has made no effort whatsoever to extend similar support to the agricultural community there,” said the Chief Minister. Pointing out that the Kejriwal government was among the first to notify one of the anti-farmer laws of the Centre in Delhi, he accused AAP of pretending to sympathise with farmers of Punjab.
Capt Amarinder said the Delhi Government was fooling people by putting a small amount into one pocket, by way of 200 units of free domestic power, and taking away a higher amount from the other in the form of high tariffs being paid by shopkeepers, industry and farmers for commercial and agriculture power. The Delhi Government was charging Rs. 11.34 per unit from small shopkeepers and other commercial establishments, which was 50% higher than what was being charged in Punjab, he claimed. In fact, he said, every resident of Delhi was indirectly paying much more for power than what was being paid by residents of Punjab.
“The Punjab Government is paying an annual power subsidy bill of Rs 10,458 crore, while the Kejriwal government is paying Rs 2,820 crore, when the population of Delhi is a mere two crore compared with Punjab’s three crore. This translates into average power subsidy in Punjab at Rs. 3,486 per person, as against Rs 1,410 for a Delhi resident,” he said.
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