Punjab Assembly Polls 2022: AAP banks on ‘free power’ for victory
In Delhi, the AAP government provides 200 units of free power per month. Kejriwal promised that the decision will be passed in the first cabinet meeting of the AAP government in Punjab.
Published: 30th June 2021 07:22 AM | Last Updated: 30th June 2021 07:22 AM | A+A A-
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (C) with Punjab AAP chief Bhagwant Mann (L) at a press conference in Chandigarh. (Photo | PTI)
CHANDIGARH: With the assembly elections in Punjab a few months away, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday promised to provide 300 units of free electricity to every household in the state with round-the-clock power supply if his party comes to power in the state next year.
In Delhi, the AAP government provides 200 units of free power per month. Kejriwal promised that the decision will be passed in the first cabinet meeting of the AAP government in Punjab.
“When we fought the assembly elections for the first time in Delhi in 2013, people used to get absurd electricity bills. The government was colluding with electricity companies, just like Punjab. Today, there’s 24*7 electricity supply in Delhi at a very low rate. We have to do this in Punjab also,” he said.
Kejriwal said that 80 per cent of families will benefit from the decision as they will have to pay zero bills.
Kewjriwal also announced to waive off pending domestic electricity bills and work towards providing uninterrupted supply in the state.
“It will take three years for us to upgrade the infrastructure and then we will be able to provide uninterrupted power supply,” he said.
Kejriwal said that all the existing beneficiary categories which were getting 200 free units like SCs, BCs, BPL families, freedom fighters etc, will now get 300 free units.
“Despite being a power surplus state, the electricity tariffs in Punjab are the highest in India,” he said, adding that it is because there was a nexus between the private power plants and those in power who from time to time had looted the people of Punjab.
AAP state president Bhagwant Mann said that the biggest pain for the people of Punjab today was expensive electricity, for which the AAP had been raising its voice. Reacting to the announcements, the SAD hiromani Akali Dal claimed that far from giving any relief to the common man through subsidised power, the AAP would even do away with the 200 unit per month free power provided to the poor including SCs and backward classes. Punjab BJP President Ashwani Sharma said that Kejriwal is misguiding the people of Punjab as he has been unable to fulfil the promises made to the people of Delhi.
