BJP’s free power promise in WB fuels identical demand in UP

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / Mar 23, 2021

The promise by challenger Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to provide free 200 units of electricity every month to the households in West Bengal if voted to power has given rise to an identical demand in Uttar Pradesh, where it is the ruling outfit.

Taking a cue from BJP’s populist promise of free power in its WB Sankalp Patra (manifesto), a power consumers’ body has asked the UP government to offer a similar relief in the Hindi heartland state.

UP State Power Consumers’ Forum president Avadhesh Verma further claimed UP power distribution companies (discoms) were saddled with combined liability of Rs 19,535 crore under the heads of true-up (revised estimates) and UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana).

Yesterday, he submitted a memorandum to UP energy minister Shrikant Sharma seeking power tariff relief for nearly 30 million electricity consumers in the state.

“West Bengal has not seen a new power tariff order since 2016-17, whereas in UP, the consumers have to pay Rs 5.5 per unit for the first 150 units, which increases to Rs 6 per unit for the 151-300 unit slab, apart from Rs 110 as fixed charge for every kilowatt (kw) connection,” he lamented.