'Unacceptable', says BJP after Himachal govt pares back free power scheme, excludes income tax payers

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Shimla: Even as the Congress party had promised to hike the number of free units of electricity to consumers to 300 before coming to power in Himachal pradesh in 2022, a severe financial crunch has forced the Congress-led government to rationalise the existing subsidy scheme offering 125 units of free electricity by excluding tax-paying consumers...

The Himachal government has decided to withdraw the subsidy for chief minister/ex-chief ministers, speaker, deputy speaker, ministers/ex-ministers, MPs/ex-MPs, MLAs/ex-MLAs, chairmen of boards/ advisors, officers on special duty, all Class-1 and Class-2 employees of the government/corporations/boards including officers in Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, Himachal Pradesh Police Service and Himachal Pradesh Administrative Service, and forest officers, judicial officers, etc. all government Class A and Class B contractors and all income tax payers...

The decision was taken Friday at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu amid allegations by the Bharatiya Janata Party that the state government was planning to withdraw the current subsidy of 125 free units...

Congress promised 300 units of free power during the last assembly elections, and isnow finding ways to scrap the scheme launched by the BJP government..

Earlier in March, Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (HPERC) had disallowed the free power subsidy to consumers with electricity meters installed without a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from civic bodies..

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