Free rural power: Punjab pulls plug

Five and half years after the Akali Dal gave Punjab’s farmers free power, its successor Congress government of Capt Amrinder Singh today withdrew the freebie and instead imposed a rate of 57 paise per unit. The move, which has been criticised by the Akalis, is expected to be a relief to the cash-strapped Punjab State Electricity Board.

The new rates were announced soon after the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) accepted the PSEB’s proposal to levy Rs 2 per unit on the agriculture sector, a rate later scaled down to 57 paise.

The new tariff is far less than that levied in 1996 (65 paise per unit), which was brought down to 50 paise by the then Congress Government, before being done away with in February 1997 by Akali CM Parkash Singh Badal.