Minister-in-charge of Mysuru district H. C. Mahadevappa on Saturday said over nine lakh consumers who are eligible for availing the benefit under Gruha Jyothi scheme in Mysuru district would be saving around ₹58 crore a month or about ₹687 crore annually on their power bills.
By issuing zero electricity bills in a symbolic manner to consumers, the Minister gave a formal start to the scheme, one of the guarantees announced by the Congress government, in the packed Kalamandira at a programme organised by the Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC).
The minister said nearly 1.42 crore families would be availing up to 200 units of free power every month in the State starting this month. The scheme will largely support economically backward families and savings of ₹58 crore to ₹60 crore was expected to be achieved every month by over 9 lakh consumers in the district, he explained.
Based on the benefits that the beneficiaries were going to avail under the guarantees, each person would be saving about ₹4,000 a month and ₹55,000 a year. The Congress has kept its promise and the proof for this is the schemes launched by the government within three months of coming to power, Dr. Mahadevappa said.
Referring to the criticism of the guarantees announced by the Congress, the Minister said doubts were expressed on whether these guarantees would be implemented. Ahead of elections, the Congress had distributed guarantee cards with the signatures of Siddaramaiah, who was then the leader of the Opposition, and M.r D.K. Shivakumar, who was the KPCC chief. A lot of statements were made by the rival parties on the Congress’s promises and some even mocked the guarantees, including 200 units of free power. But, the Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah has kept its promise and fulfilled the promise it made to the people at the time of elections despite the challenges, Dr. Mahadevappa said in his address.
Understanding the finances, Mr. Siddaramaiah, who also holds the finance portfolio, has set aside Rs. 52,000 crore in the budget for fulfilling the five guarantees, the Minister said.
Minister for Anil Husbandry and Sericulture K. Venkatesh, in his address, took a dig at the NDA government at the Centre for denying rice to the State for its Anna Bhagya scheme under which the Congress promised 10 kilos of free rice. In the absence of rice stocks, the government was transferring money for five kilos of rice to the beneficiaries’ accounts, he added.
Out of five guarantees, four are being implemented. Under Shakthi, over 68 crore women have availed free travel in the buses run by the State transport corporations since the launch, the minister stated.
Mayor Shivakumar, MLA Ravishankar, MLCs A.H. Vishwanath, Maritibbe Gowda, C.N. Manje Gowda, Deputy Mayor G. Roopa, CESC Managing Director C.N. Sridhar, General Manager P. Ravikumar and Superintending Engineer A.A. Sunil Kumar were present.
The inaugural event was delayed in Mysuru as the formal inauguration of the scheme by Mr. Siddaramaiah which was scheduled in Kalaburagi, was awaited. After the formal launch in the State, the scheme was given a start in Mysuru too by the Minister and other dignitaries.
The scheme was also formally launched in Mandya, Chamarajnagar and Kodagu by the respective ministers in-charge of those districts.
