Punjab waives pending electricity bills of 55 lakh defaulters
Darpan News Desk IANS, 29 Sep, 2021 10:58 AM
Chandigarh, Sep 29 (IANS) Amid the turmoil within the ruling Congress party and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal's visit to Punjab, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Wednesday announced to waive pending electricity bills of 55 lakh defaulters, covering 80 per cent of the total consumers.
It will put a burden of Rs 1,200 crore on the state exchequer.
Channi told the media after the Cabinet meeting that it decided to waive pending electricity bills of all defaulters having connection up to 2 KW.
"It is a major relief for the common man," the Chief Minister, who reiterated the government won't indulge in corruption nor let anyone do it.
The decision will benefit consumers in rural and urban areas.
But the Chief Minister clarified that the arrears could be of one month or as old as 10 years, all outstanding will be cleared by the government.
"The policy will apply only to the previous electricity bills that are pending. From now onwards, the consumers would be liable for the outstanding," he added.
Channi said committees at tehsil level would be formed to handle old bill waiver cases and verify the beneficiaries.
The Chief Minister announced a mechanism soon to end sand mafia by bringing a new policy on mining.
On the resignation of state Congress chief Navjot Sidhu, Channi said he had talked to him. "I have invited him to talk so that we can resolve the issue."
He said that as sought by the party high command, the government is appointing a dedicated team of public prosecutors and lawyers to handle sensitive cases like sacrilege.
Sidhu resigned much to the dismay of the Congress party and on the day when the party was going gaga over the joining of Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mevani.
He was accompanied by AAP Punjab President and MP Bhagwant Mann, Punjab affairs in-charge Jarnail Singh, co-in-charge Raghav Chadha, MLAs Aman Arora, Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Baljinder Kaur, Amarjit Singh Sandoa, and Master Baldev Singh, among others.
On Tuesday, IANS had first ran the story -- "'Upset' Amarinder likely to meet Shah, his office denies". Since then, speculation was doing the rounds about a likely meeting between the two leaders. However, Singh's media advisor Raveen Thukral had then denied the former meeting Shah and BJP chief J.P. Nadda, saying he's on a personal visit to Delhi to meet 'some friends'.
The petitioner contended that her daughter is a permanent resident of the US, while her son holds an American passport. Jauhar argued that children have been taken to an "undisclosed destination", as they are neither in Chennai nor at Tamil Nadu's Virudhnagar, and that his client suspects they have been taken to Maharashtra.
After failing to get any information about Gurdeep's whereabouts since he left Delhi a week ago, his uncle Shamsher Singh, who is also at Singhu, lodged the missing complaint at Kundli police station which falls under Sonepat district of Haryana and is very near the farmers' protest site.
Her resignation came hours after she was given water supply and sanitation, social security, women and child development, printing, and stationery departments in the new Cabinet led by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.
