Punjab waives outstanding electricity bills till Dec 2021
Darpan News Desk IANS, 04 Aug, 2022 10:25 AM
Chandigarh, Aug 4 (IANS) Fulfilling yet another promise made by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Maan to the people of the state, the Punjab government has waived outstanding electricity bills of all domestic category consumers till December 31, 2021.
The Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) has issued a notification in this regard.
Announcing an amnesty for defaulting domestic electricity consumers, Power Minister Harbhajan Singh said the outstanding electricity bills till December 31, 2021, of those who have not paid their dues till June 30, 2022, have been waived.
The minister said those disconnected power connections, which are not possible to restore, will be issued again by the PSPCL on the request of the applicant.
He said the charges incurred for the new domestic electricity connection, which are to be paid by the electricity consumers, will also be reimbursed by the Punjab government to the PSPCL.
All other consumers like government hospitals, dispensaries, places of worship, government sports institutes, military rest houses, government aided educational institutes and attached hostels, etc, will not be covered under this amnesty scheme.
The government has been providing 300 units free electricity to all eligible residents of state every month.
About 105.14 lakh farmers have been benefited with an MSP value of Rs 1,45,358.13 crore, government data showed. Apart from Punjab (1,87,28,335 MT) and Chhattisgarh (92,01,000 MT), the other top paddy procurement states included Telangana (70,22,000 MT), Uttar Pradesh (65,53,029 MT) Odisha (57,16,134), Haryana (55,30,596), Madhya Pradesh (45,82,610), and Bihar (44,90,319 MT).
The bank employees organised demonstrations, sit-in protests, processions and rallies near their workplaces in different cities and towns protesting against the privatisation of banks undertaken by the Centre.
While complimenting the enforcement officers, he said their hands-on approach has led to large number of seizures in the state of fake and smuggled goods. He was speaking at an interactive session by FICCI CASCADE on the 'Strategies' to combat smuggling and counterfeiting, here.
Cheema was responding the Centre's decision on new rules governing the Chandigarh Administration employees, who are currently working under the Punjab service rules but will now come under the Central Civil Services Rules.
Reacting strongly to the announcement by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to bring Chandigarh union territory employees under Central civil services rules, the SAD said, "It is incumbent on the AAP government to make the Centre understand that Chandigarh is a union territory as per an ad-hoc arrangement only.
As per the Commission, as no objection has been lodged with them from anywhere on this issue, no action can be taken in advance in this matter.Starting from the 2022-23 academic year, the state government has decided to add the Hindu religious book to the curriculum of classes 6 to 12.
