Karnataka: Free power for SC/ST families nearly doubled

In a move to secure another major vote bank, the Karnataka government on Friday announced that all scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (SC/ST) families will be given around 75 units of free power, raising the bar from the 40 units it was before.

As the 2023 assembly elections approach, all parties in Karnataka are gearing up with their election campaigns and manifestos. In a similar move, the ruling BJP on Friday announced that all families from scheduled caste and scheduled tribes (SC/ST) will be given around 75 units of free power, raising the bar from the 40 units it was before.

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday announced that free power for SC/ST families will be nearly doubled. (PTI image)

This decision will help the Bommai-led government to secure goodwill from the largest vote share, as the SC and ST communities make up about 24% of the electorate. However, it would mean an additional annual expense of about Rs. 979 crores cut from the state's treasury.

The move was first announced in April by Bommai on the 115th birth anniversary of Babu Jagjivan Ram, a Dalit freedom fighter. While some proposals, like the establishment of an independent committee to scrutinise government tenders costing over Rs. 50 crores, exist only on paper for the past half year, the proposal to increase the free power quota for SC/ST families was cleared in less than a month by the energy department and handed over to finance, that is headed by Chief Minister Bommai himself.

The revised free power quota decision will come into effect this month, reports said. SC and ST families are already covered under schemes like the Kuteera Jyothi and Bhagya Jyothi that ensure uninterrupted electricity supply. Of the total 1. 4 crore citizens in the state who consume less than 75 units of power in a month, about 39. 2 lakh consumers are covered under the Kuteera Jyothi and Bhagya Jyothi programmes, Karnataka energy minister V Sunil Kumar told a leading daily.

"As this was a welfare scheme, we did not want to delay it any further,” he added. A senior official within the energy department told the leading daily news website that metering will be a mandatory practice for these consumers. New rules for SC and ST beneficiaries to avail the scheme have been set.

“Beneficiaries should have cleared their electric bill dues up to April 2022. Beneficiaries have to submit a copy of their bank passbook along with the records as the subsidy will be credited directly to the account of the beneficiary,” the official added while speaking to reporters.