RANCHI: The Jharkhand Cabinet on Friday approved a proposal to increase the free electricity cap from the existing 100 units to 125 units per month for domestic consumers.
Days after assuming office as Chief Minister, Champai Soren had promised to increase the cap. Thus, consumers will get free power up to 125 units.
The state government started the '100-unit free electricity' scheme in 2022 with an aim to reduce financial burden on the Jharkhand people, applicable only for the domestic consumers whose electricity bill remains 100 units.
According to Cabinet Secretary Ajoy Kumar Singh, the scheme would benefit an additional 7.43 lakh consumers.
“Currently, as many as 21, 72,331 consumers are availing the benefit of 100 units of free electricity. Now, after increasing the cap to 125 units, the number of beneficiaries would increase to 29, 15, 951,” said the Cabinet Secretary.
During the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Champai Soren, a total of 29 proposals were passed, including setting up of dairy plants in Giridih and Jamshedpur, and replacing all 2G network-based e-PoS (point of sale) machines with 4G devices in fair-price shops.
Referring to the replacement of e-PoS machines in around 27,000 fair-price shops, Singh said the cabinet has approved Rs 63.72 crore for purchase of the devices and Rs 28.67 crore for their annual maintenance.
The cabinet also gave its nod for approval of allowances to Jharkhand Judicial Service personnel and for providing tablets to 40 crore Sahiya workers for which the government will spend Rs 114 crore.