BJP MP from East Delhi Gautam Gambhir slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the national capital on Saturday, alleging that its claim of free electricity supply is "propaganda".
In a statement, the cricketer-turned-politician said after forming the government in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his associates had claimed that with clean governance and administration, the electricity prices will reduce drastically. "However, in the past eight years, the people of Delhi have just been at the receiving end of propaganda and hogwash. In reality, not a single person in Delhi gets electricity for free," he said.
No immediate reaction to Gambhir's allegation was available from the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. Under the free electricity scheme of the Delhi government, consumers using up to 200 units of electricity per month get "zero" bills. Those consuming 201 to 400 units are given a 50-per cent (up to Rs 800) subsidy.
Gambhir claimed that "11 Lakh households in Delhi have to pay for electricity at Rs 10 per unit, which is one of the highest in the entire country". He further claimed that private electricity companies collect around Rs 20,000 crore from Delhi every year, out of which Rs 16,000 crore are directly paid by people against their power bills, and the remaining amount of Rs 4,000 crore that the city government gives as subsidy also comes from the taxes paid by them.
At a press briefing on Saturday, Kejriwal defended his schemes for free education, health services, transport facility for women in buses, electricity, and water, saying they are not freebies but efforts towards laying the foundation to make India the number one country in the world.
