Journalism of Courage
While campaigning for the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, AAP supremo and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had promised to provide 300 units of free power per month to every family. After much deliberation, the newly elected government has guaranteed to put the promise into action from July 1.
According to the announcement made regarding the scheme, the government will provide 300 units free to every family. However, if the limit is crossed, then the consumers will have to pay the entire bill and will not be able to benefit from the subsidy. Many have welcomed this move, as data suggests that around 84 per cent of households consume power less than 300 units in a month.
Ram Prasad, who resides in a house in Sarabha Nagar as the caretaker, said, “ The metre is in the name of the owner. My bimonthly bill comes around Rs 2,000 and in summers it sometimes goes up to Rs 4,000 bimonthly. I never noticed how many units I would consume, but I will study my past power bills and have told my family to start using power judiciously to remain within the bracket of 300 units per month. I am a factory worker and my wife works as a household help. We have to take care of our old parents, and three children. If the expenses come down, it will be a great relief for me.”
Lt Col Jagdish Singh Brar (retired) who is the president of a Ludhiana NGO Maha Sabha said, “I have installed a 3 KW solar panel on my rooftop. My wife and I live here and the amount of power this solar panel produces reduces my power bill to almost zero, so I am already self-sufficient and taking care of my power needs myself. If the government gives 300 per month free power or not, it hardly matters to me. However, I still doubt that this benefit will be passed on to those consuming below 300 units per month as I strongly feel that there will be some conditions that will be revealed slowly. I am eagerly awaiting the notification.”
In the video message announcing the new scheme, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann said that SC/BC/BPL and families of freedom fighters will only be charged for the units that they consume over the 300 unit limit. Earlier SC/BC/BPL and freedom fighters were getting 200 units per month free and were charged for the excess units.
Bhagwant Samao, president of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha said, “It is a welcome step for mazdoor samaj and especially for SC families. But I know many general category families who are either farm labourers or small shopkeepers/ farmers. They get submersibles installed inside their houses due to the decreasing groundwater and hence use electric motors to get water supply. This consumes a lot of power. So many poor families from the general category will not be able to benefit from the scheme. Hence, if the government provides subsidies to people based on their economic status in the general category, it can be really great.”
Zora Singh Nasrali, president of Punjab Khet Mazdoor union said, “Our union represents a large number of SC/BC and BPL families and we welcome this announcement. However, we feel that the landlords who can afford to pay the bills will find novel ways to stay within the bracket. They will benefit from the scheme while it is meant to benefit the economically weaker sections. Landlords already get subsidies on tubewells and pay no power bill while small farmers are not getting subsidies for even one tubewell connection because of a long queue of applications.”
Gursewak Singh, president of Guru Nanak Dev Bathinda Thermal plant employees association said, “ The government needs to study this scheme and I am sure that they will be doing so in the coming two months. I strongly apprehend that families will split their power connections to avail benefit. I think if power is affordable then the majority of consumers will pay the bill. Consumers should not end up taking undue advantage of the scheme.”
Meanwhile, families in both urban and rural areas are busy analyzing their power consumption and a number of them are even discussing splitting power connections. “Fuel prices are skyrocketing, inflation has hit the roof, food items are unaffordable and if we can save some money in terms of power bills, why will we not do so?” said Manav Sharma, a resident of Jawahar camp of Ludhiana.
Jitendra Garg, an ahritya of Bareta Mandi in Mansa however said, “Let us see how the full scheme rolls out and if they are able to give free power to all the 62.25 lakh consumers. The subsidy burden will increase over the months as it is a human tendency to consume more if anything free is available. Families might push their power consumption to 300 units even if they are using only 150-200 units in a month.”
When asked, PSPCL authorities said that there will be no load restrictions if the consumption per month is 300 units. In the case of SC/BC/BPL families, if bimonthly consumption is more than 600 units then only those having a 1 KW load will get monthly 300 units free and pay for the extra units.
