Toy seller gets ₹5,000 bonanza after paying electricity bill of ₹88 online
The monthly lottery system is an initiative of the Jaipur Discom to encourage digital payments through its newly launched ‘Bijli Mitra’ app. While the winners don’t get any cash, their future monthly bills are adjusted against the winning amount.
When Hari Prasad, a 52-year-old vendor selling toys on a handcart in Sawai Madhopur town, was told that he had won a ‘lottery’ of ₹5,000, his first reaction was that of disbelief.
“Mujhe laga koyi majak kar raha hai. (I thought someone was pulling my leg),” said Prasad while talking to HT over phone. Prasad was given the information by an acquaintance who convinced him that the award was part of a new scheme launched by the state energy department to encourage digital payments.
“I used to pay my bill in cash at the counter, but my acquaintance told me about ‘Bijli Mitra’ and also paid the bill of ₹88 on my behalf. Initially, I was a bit apprehensive and had told him to ensure that power department doesn’t cut off my home’s electricity for lack of bill payment,” said Prasad.
Prasad’s acquaintance, an employee of Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (Jaipur Discom) in Sawai Madhour, did not wish to be named, as he is not authorised to speak to media.
The monthly lottery system is an initiative of the Jaipur Discom to encourage digital payments through its newly launched ‘Bijli Mitra’ app. While the winners don’t get any cash, their future monthly bills are adjusted against the winning amount.
“On September 1, the discom used a random computerised process to select 100 consumers (for the award) out of 1,228 consumers, who had paid the bill through the app for the month of July,” Jaipur Discom chairman and managing director (CMD) RG Gupta said. “The discom will pay a total amount of ₹5 lakh by adjusting the amount against the bills of these 100 consumers for the coming months,” he said.
For Prasad, it was a bonanza of sorts, as he had paid electricity bill of only ₹88, which was the lowest among the 1,228 consumers. “I live in a two-room house in Adarsh Nagar colony of Sawai Madhopur. My electricity consumption is low, as only my wife is at home, while I am outside for most part of the day and my two children have also left town for higher studies,” he said.
The scheme is valid for consumers in the 12 districts of Rajasthan that come under the Jaipur discom. At present, about 3.10 lakh consumers of discom use online digital payment mode (credit and debit card or net banking) to pay the electricity bills, while the awareness about newly launched app is on the rise.
In a recent move, the discom has made it mandatory for all its employees to pay their domestic electricity bills through ‘Bijli Mitra’ app from September onwards.
Meanwhile, Prasad will not have to pay his electricity bills for many more months.
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