Hry to reduce power rates soon

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Friday hinted that electricity rates would soon be reduced in the state, and that such consumers as do not have metres, would be given an opportunity to pay their power bills on the basis of the average of last one year.

Penalty and interest on such consumers would also be waived off, said the Chief Minister while addressing the people of Kaul village in Kaithal district after launching his direct contact programme.

He said consumers who had not paid their electricity bills would be given an opportunity to pay over two years in 12 installments. No penalty and interest would be levied on them.

This scheme is being introduced for those consumers whose electricity bills are pending for the last many years. It will take them out of the bracket of defaulters. In district Kaithal, power losses ranging from 20 per cent to 83 per cent are registered in villages only, said he.

The State Government has been successful in reducing the power losses through the Mhara Gaon Jagmag Gaon scheme. Under this scheme, five districts of the state namely, Gurugram, Panchkula, Ambala, Sirsa and Faridabad, are being provided 24-hour electricity, he added.

Exhorting the people to encourage one and all to get valid electricity connections to help the government reduce losses of the Power Department, the Chief Minister said, when the present government took over the reins of the administration, the losses were a staggering 34 per cent which had now been reduced to 20 per cent.

Manohar Lal said besides ensuring infrastructure development in the state, the State Government is working for socio-economic development of the people. Various schemes are being implemented for increasing the income of people as a result of which the budget of the government has reached Rs 1.15 lakh crore which, three years ago, was only Rs 61,000 crore, said he.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister announced Rs 5 crore each for various development works in the villages of Kaul and Pabnawa under the Deenbandhu Gramin Yojana. A sum of Rs 3.5 crore for village Kaul and Rs 2.75 crore for village Pabnawa has already been approved for carrying out various development works.

He also accepted demands worth Rs 8.74 crore for development of village Dhand. Development works worth Rs 350 crore are in progress in the Pundri Assembly constituency.

Coming down heavily on the previous governments in the state, the Chief Minister described these as the governments of transfer, recruitment and CLU. The present government has implemented a transparent transfer policy and the youth are being given jobs on the basis of merit, said he.

Referring to the statement of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda that he would not allow acquisition of even a single inch of farmers’ land, the Chief Minister said under the present government, land was being acquired only with farmers’ consent and, that too, for road projects only. During the last three years, not even a single inch of land has been acquired by the State Government except for road related projects, he said.

Referring to the public meeting held in village Chhattar in district Jind recently, he said as a result of the transparent recruitment policy of the government, 30 youth of the village got employment. Contrary to this, under the previous governments, the youth had to sell land and ornaments to get government jobs, he added.