Punjab budget: Govt allocates ₹7,780 cr for power subsidy to domestic consumers - Hindustan Times
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Punjab budget: Govt allocates 7,780 cr for power subsidy to domestic consumers

Mar 11, 2023 01:36 AM IST

Chandigarh : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab on Friday allocated ₹7,780 crore for power subsidy to domestic consumers

Chandigarh : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab on Friday allocated 7,780 crore for power subsidy to domestic consumers.

The Punjab government in July last year fulfilled its first pre-poll guarantee of providing 300 units of power free every month to domestic consumers.
The Punjab government in July last year fulfilled its first pre-poll guarantee of providing 300 units of power free every month to domestic consumers.

The government in July last year fulfilled its first pre-poll guarantee of providing 300 units of power free every month to domestic consumers.

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Presenting the budget for 2023-24 fiscal, finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday said 87% of domestic consumers in Punjab are benefitting from the scheme and are getting zero bills. There are 76 lakh domestic consumers in the state.

Cheema also announced to clear the power subsidy bill of 9,000 crore towards Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), pending since 2014-15, in the next five years.

The finance minister said the government has already cleared 1,804 crore pending power subsidy and has paid 664 crore as interest on it.

He informed that House that under the AAP government. The PSPCL has met an all-time high power demand of 14,311 MW from April to September last year, witnessing an increase of 13% during the corresponding period in the previous financial year. “Our government also managed eight-hour uninterrupted power supply to the agriculture sector despite the coal crisis,” said Cheema.

He said the PSPCL would save 250 crores every year after resumption of coal supply from state-owned mine at Pachhwara in Jharkhand after a gap of seven years.

Cheema also announced that the government would spend 9,642 crore in the next five years on upgrading power infrastructure, particularly replacing transformers, segregating fixed meters and bifurcation of feeders. “PSPCL has accorded approval for undertaking the reform-based and result-linked revamped distribution sector scheme,” said Cheema.

‘Canal system for irrigation to be revamped’

The government also allocated 2,630 crore, an increase of 15% from the last budget, for revamping the canal system. Around 27% of irrigation in the state is done through canal water and the remaining by underground water. The state government wants to lessen the burden on underground water to conserve non-renewable natural resources.

Cheema said the state would undertake relining of 16km of Sirhind Canal and 34 km of Rajasthan feeder. He proposed 309 crore for concrete lining of Arnauli distributary, Bhawanigarh distributary, Khanna distributary, and Nawada distributary.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Gurpreet Singh Nibber is an Assistant Editor with the Punjab bureau. He covers politics, agriculture, power sector, environment, Sikh religious affairs and the Punjabi diaspora.

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