By IANS,
Chandigarh: Buckling under pressure from its alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and falling for populist measures, the Akali Dal-led Punjab government Thursday announced that the enhanced tariff of electricity levied on all categories of consumers since April 1 last year would be adjusted in future bills.
A state government spokesman said the enhanced tariff levied in bills of domestic consumers would be adjusted for a one-year period from March 31, 2009, till April 1, 2010.
For commercial and industrial users, the enhanced tariff for six months period will be adjusted, he added.
The move came amid pressure from the BJP on the Punjab government to roll back the electricity tariff hiked by the Punjab state electricity regulatory commission September last year. The commission had said that the tariff hike would be implemented retrospectively from April 1 last year.
The BJP, which has its political base in Punjab’s urban voters, opposed the tariff hike, saying that since the Akalis, who had an established political base in rural areas, were giving free power to farmers, the urban voters should also be given some concessions.
“In order to provide relief to the common man in view of the impact of the general economic slow-down in the country, the Punjab government today (Thursday) decided to set off the enhanced portion of power tariff in the domestic, the commercial and the industrial sectors in the state,” the spokesman said here.
“The outstanding bills for the domestic sector would be reimbursed through this adjustment for the complete one year (March 31, 2009 to April 1, 2010), the relief to the commercial and industrial sectors in this form would be for six months of the revised tariff,” he added.
The adjustment would be made in bills with effect from April 1 this year.