Charge only for electricity units used above 200 for poor under Gruha Jyothi, Harish Rao urges CM

HYDERABAD: BRS leader and Former Finance Minister Harish Rao has said that only 30 lakh out of 90 lakh people who have white ration cards in Telangana have been benefited of the Gruha Jyothi - free power up to 200 units of domestic consumption.

He posted on “X” on Tuesday, saying: “I would like to bring to your notice that due to the mistake in the government scheme of not charging any bill to the consumers who use less than 200 units of electricity at their homes in the state of Telangana, injustice is being meted out to lakhs of deserving people.

“Officials are giving zero bill to those who have used only up to 200 units. But even if one unit is consumed more, the bill is charged for the entire 201 units. Consumers are forced to get up early every day and check how much electricity is consumed by them and what’s the meter reading? It is a situation one must take note of that they are thrown into doubt whether or not they should use fan or light. It is sad to subject the poor to this kind of a situation of having to live by checking the meter reading.

“So, I want you to make rules so that even if more than 200 units of electricity are used, only the units consumed more than 200 units are billed.

“I request that changes in the billing system be made so that the government bears the burden of up to 200 units and the consumer pays the cost of the rest of the units.

“While 90 lakh people in Telangana state have ration cards, the government is implementing this scheme for only 30 lakh people. The remaining 60 lakh people are being meted out gross injustice. Even in Hyderabad city, if there are 30 lakh poor people, it has been decided to implement the scheme for only 10 lakh people. Others are suffering. Only one third of the total poor are covered by this scheme. Two-quarters of the poor are being ignored. This is not fair,” said Harish Rao.

Explaining the practical situation, he said: “Only one family is considered under one ration card. Those whose names are in one ration card are also living separately in two or three families. They live in the same house in different portions, on different floors. But the government is counting all of them as one family and is applying the scheme to just one of them. This is also not the correct method. I want you to apply this scheme to all the families, no matter how many families there are. If the government's objective is to provide justice to the truly poor, then all 90 lakh poor families should be benefited. Otherwise the scheme will remain merely nominal,” Harish Rao observed.

It seemed as if the government itself was blocking the implementation of the guarantees.

If “ really have the sincerity to help the poor, I demand that the government take an immediate decision on the above three matters,”

he pointed out.