BJP MP from East Delhi Gautam Gambhir on Saturday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the national capital, alleging that its claim of free power supply is “propaganda”. In a statement made by the cricketer-turned-politician, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his associates after forming the government in Delhi had claimed that with clean governance and administration, electricity prices would come down drastically.
“However, in the last eight years, the people of Delhi have been subjected to just propaganda and hogwash. In fact, not a single person in Delhi gets electricity for free,” he said.
There was no immediate reaction from the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to Gambhir’s allegation. Consumers using up to 200 units of electricity per month get a “zero” bill under the Delhi government’s free electricity scheme. 50 per cent (up to Rs 800) subsidy is given to those consuming 201 to 400 units.
Gambhir claimed that “11 lakh households in Delhi have to pay Rs 10 per unit for electricity, which is the highest in the entire country.” He further claimed that the private power companies collect around Rs 20,000 crore from Delhi every year, out of which Rs 16,000 crore is paid directly by the people against their electricity bills and the remaining Rs 4,000 crore which the city government gives as subsidy. Yes, that also comes with the tax paid by them.
In a press briefing on Saturday, Kejriwal defended his plans for free education, health services, transport facility for women in buses, electricity and water, saying they are not free but to make India the number one country in the world. There are efforts to lay the foundation. ,