Power water tariffs to rise after March

It appears that Arvind Kejriwal knew it quite well that his chief ministership was not to last beyond three months. He had announced only three months subsidy on power and water. Now that his government has gone, so would the sops. The water and power tariffs will be hiked yet again after March.

Soon after becoming the chief minister, Kejriwal had announced 666 liters of free water to every household with a meter connection. The government had also announced 50% subsidy on power bills, to all household consumuing upto 400 units of power per month. However this subsidy came with a cap of three months.

A budget of Rs372 crore for proving three months subsidy was approved by the Delhi Assembly hours before Kejriwal decided to leave his chair.

Kejriwal while announcing the subsidy in January had announced a CAG audit into the accounts of the discoms. He had then said that the audit will get over in three months time and the power tariffs will come down after the audit.

The CAG is still conducting the audit and it will take atleast four months before it sumbits its report. Also with Delhi going into President rule, it will now be for the Lt governor Najeeb Jung to decide whether not the tariffs need to be revised.

The Congress party in Delhi which had supported Aam Aadmi Party in passing the revised budget to extend the susbidy has criticised the government for misleading the people. "Kejriwal has misled the people. The subsidy that had promised to people, will end in March and the power tariffs will be hiked all over again," said AS Lovely.