Average price for power higher in Delhi than Punjab, says CM Amarinder Singh

CHANDIGARH: Lashing out at his Delhi counterpart over the latter’s alleged failure to provide free power to farmers in the national capital, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, on Monday, accused Arvind Kejriwal of making false promises of supplying free power in Punjab to woo voters ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections.
“The Kejriwal government has completely failed people of Delhi on all counts with no free power to farmers in villages located in the national capital and excessively high power tariffs for the industry,” alleged Amarinder. He claimed that people of Punjab had rejected the Delhi model of governance on all counts.
The Punjab chief minister termed the Delhi power tariff structure a case of “organized loot” by the Kejriwal-led AAP government. He claimed that the Delhi government was allowing private power distribution companies to collect excessively high tariffs from the common man.
He said while Delhi was charging Rs 9.80 per unit for industrial power, the Congress government in Punjab was levying a subsidized tariff of Rs 5 per unit to attract industry to Punjab. He also said there had been more than Rs 85,000 crore worth of investment on the ground in the last four years. Subsidised power is currently being given to 1,43,812 industrial units in Punjab with an annual subsidy of Rs 2,226 crore, he pointed out.
“ In sharp contrast to Punjab, where the government was giving free power worth Rs 6,735 crore to 13,79,217 farmers, the AAP government in Delhi made no effort whatsoever to extend similar support to the agricultural community there,” said the chief minister. He alleged that the Kejriwal government was among the first to notify one of the anti-farmer agricultural laws of the Centre in Delhi and said AAP pretended to be sympathetic towards farmers of Punjab.
On electricity tariff, Amarinder said the Delhi government was fooling 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 high tariffs paid by shopkeepers, industry and farmers for commercial and agriculture power. The Delhi Government was charging Rs 11.34 per unit from small shopkeepers and other commercial establishments, which was 50% higher than the charge in Punjab, he said.
Comparing subsidies of the two states, Amarinder said that the Punjab government was paying an annual power subsidy bill of Rs 10,458 crore while the Kejriwal government was paying Rs 2,820 crore when the population of Delhi was two crore compared with Punjab’s three crore. He said this translated into average power subsidy of Rs 3,486 per person in Punjab, as against Rs 1,410 for a Delhi resident. Amarinder added that the Punjab government was giving subsidised power amounting to Rs 10,458 crore, or 2.24% of its total revenue, while Delhi government provided a subsidy of Rs 2,820 crore, which is only 1.03 % of its total revenues.