Rider in power bills shocks Dalit families

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 29

A recent decision of the PSPCL to impose a new rider in the power bill waiver to the Dalit families with 1 kw connections has become a major issue in the Doaba region.

The SC and BPL families, which earlier had an exemption of power bill waiver up to 400 units for two months, have alleged that the PSPCL has imposed a new condition in the scheme. 

Anyone consuming more than 400 units in two months or over 3,000 units in the entire year now has to pay up his entire bill.

Earlier, if the consumption increased the bar, the beneficiaries were levied charges only for the additional units above the limit for that household. 

The exemption for the first 400 units in the two-month billing cycle was given to them.

Akali MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu showed bills of residents of Bootan Mandi who had received bills to the tune of Rs 65,000 to even more than Rs 1 lakh. 

“Now these residents are coming to me, asking to take up the matter with the government as they are incapable of paying up such exorbitant charges. I will take up their matter in the Vidhan Sabha,” he said.

Dalit leader and Congress MLA Sushil Rinku too has been raking up the issue. 

“I had taken a delegation to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and asked him to get the matter resolved. The Power Minister could not be contacted as he is abroad. But the Chief Minister assured me that he would get a cabinet note put up on the issue”, he said.