Agencies
New Delhi, July 11:
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit Uttarakhand’s capital Dehradun on Sunday, in a bid to expand his Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) base. The visit is crucial in view of the assembly elections in Uttarakhand next year.
Kejriwal is going to the state with a pitch to provide free electricity to the people of Uttarakhand.
“Uttarakhand itself generates electricity and also sells it to other states. Then why is electricity so expensive for the people of Uttarakhand? Delhi does not generate its own electricity and buys it from other states. Still, electricity in Delhi is free. Shouldn’t the people of Uttarakhand get free electricity? See you tomorrow in Dehradun,” Kejriwal said in a tweet ahead of the visit.
This promise of Kejriwal comes just days after the Uttarakhand government announced on July 8 that 100 units of electricity will be provided free of cost every month to domestic consumers. State power minister Harak Singh Rawat said there are around 13 lakh consumers who come under the purview of 100 to 200 units of electricity. “Those who use 100 units per month will be given electricity free of cost. Those using 101 to 200 units per month will get a 50 per cent discount,” he said.
Rawat added this scheme will also benefit electricity consumers in Uttarakhand’s remote areas. Highlighting that electricity bill in the state comes for two months, he said the benefit of this scheme will be given on the basis of units each month. “That is, if someone gets a bill of 200 units in 2 months, then he will not have to pay any money,” the state power minister further said, adding those related to dairy, horticulture, and agriculture sectors, which were earlier under the commercial category of electricity consumers, will now be brought under the domestic category.
Before Uttarakhand, Kejriwal had in June visited another poll-bound state, Punjab, where he promised 300 units of free electricity for each household along with a waiver of their pending bills. “With 300 units of free power to each household, 77-80% families in Punjab will get zero bill. They will get 24-hour power but no bill,” the Delhi CM had said.
