Politics over electricity in Punjab reached new heights on Monday, with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh targeting his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal attacking state government as well as AAP on the power issue.
Captain Amarinder Singh said that Kejriwal has failed to provide free power to the farmers in Delhi, adding that he made false promises regarding free power in Punjab with an eye on the 2022 Assembly polls.
The Kejriwal government has completely failed in Delhi on all counts, with no free power to the farmers in the villages located in the national capital and excessively high power tariffs for the industry, he said, declaring that the people of Punjab have already rejected the ‘pathetic’ Delhi model of governance on all counts.
The Punjab CM termed the Delhi power tariff structure a case of organised loot by the Kejriwal-led AAP government.
While Delhi is charging Rs 9.80 per unit for industrial power, the Congress in Punjab is levying a subsidised tariff of Rs 5 per unit to attract industries to Punjab, which has witnessed over Rs 85,000 crore worth of investment visible on the ground in the last four years, he said. Subsidised power is currently being given to 1,43,812 industrial units in Punjab with an annual subsidy of Rs 2226 crore, he pointed out.
Capt Amarinder said that the Delhi Government is befooling 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 pocket by way of the high tariffs being paid by the shopkeepers, industry owners, and farmers for commercial and agriculture power. The Delhi Government is charging Rs 11.34 per unit from small shopkeepers and other commercial establishments, which is 50% higher than what is being charged in Punjab, he said. Every resident of Delhi is indirectly paying much more for power than what is being paid by residents of Punjab, said Capt Amarinder. Comparing the subsidies of the two states, he said that the Punjab government is paying an annual power subsidy bill of 10,458 crore while the Kejriwal government is paying Rs 2820 crore when the population of Delhi is mere two crore compared to Punjab’s population which is three crore. This translates into the average power subsidy in Punjab at Rs 3,486 per person, as against Rs 1,410 for a Delhi resident.