New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party is working to fulfill its promises which they made during Delhi Assembly election as Delhi government of AAP had on Wednesday announced to slash the power tariff by 50 percent and provide water free up to 20,000 litres to people of Delhi from March.
AAP announced to slash power tariff by 50 percent for those households which consume up to 400 units per month. The government also decided to provide 20,000 litres of free water to every household.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi Government said that both subsidies would become effective from March 1 and the cost per month would set the exchequer back Rs. 70 crore for power and Rs. 21 crore for water.
The government said it has planned to set aside an amount of Rs. 1,477 crore annually for the power subsidy while the projection for water is Rs. 250 crore annually. AAP sources said the projected amount for power is likely to include a possible hike in electricity rates by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission this year.
Power distribution companies have demanded a hike of 10-15 per cent as their operating costs have gone up. The estimate for water will also include the cost of setting up more meters to allow more people to get the benefit of piped water.
Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia in a press conference said, “We had successfully provided similar concessions in power and water during our 49-day government as per our promise and believe it played a major role in allowing Delhi’s Aam Aadmi to repose their trust in us again.”
Sisodia said, “It is very unfortunate that first the Congress government and then the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) Government which ruled the Capital indirectly through the Lt Governor took no steps to keep the subsidy in force after March last year.”
Delhi government had claimed that 36.06 lakh families, that is 90% of domestic power consumers would be provided 50% reduction in electricity bills up to 400 units per month beyond which no subsidy would apply. Similarly, no subsidy would apply for metered consumers using over 20,000 litres of water per month.
The announcement had been came in the wake of a Cabinet meeting by Delhi government after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called on the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to assess the status of the audit of power companies ordered by the first AAP government more than a year ago.
Bureau Report
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