Free power, bus rides & sops for youth: Cong fulfils vows

Maqsood Maniyar & Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: The new Congress gover nment in Karnataka headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday set the ball rolling for the implementation of the five poll guarantees and announced details as to how they would be implemented in the current financial year.

There was speculation about managing the number of beneficiaries and making the schemes fiscally prudent and details pertaining to it have been revealed. “We are going to implement all five guarantee schemes announced during the recentl Assembly elections, and the document signed by me and KPCC (Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee) president DK Shivakumar were distributed among all citizens.

We had agreed in principle on the fulfilment of all the promises in the first Cabinet meeting and today's Special Cabinet meeting discussed the schemes in detail and agreed on how to implement them. The schemes have been formulated without taking into account the caste, colour, religion, and language of the beneficiaries, and will be implemented for all Kannadigas” Siddaramaiah told mediapersons.

The special Cabinet meeting discussed in detail all five guarantee such as 'Gruha Jyothi', 'Gruha Lakshmi', 'Anna Bhagya', 'Shakti', and 'Yuva Nidhi'. The CM said that under the 'Gruhajyothi' scheme, the Energy Department would take the average usage of the power units in the last 12 months, and add 10 per cent additional units which would be free of cost.

This scheme would be applicable based on the use of power for a month starting from July 1. Domestic consumers need not pay anything for the average units of power consumed from August.

However, consumers have to clear all dues beforehand. Regarding the 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme, Siddaramaiah said a woman head of family belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) families is eligible for a monthly payment of Rs 2,000. To avail this scheme, they must submit applications between June 15 and July 15 and nominate the head of a family and furnish bank account details and an Aadhar card. The scheme would be officially launched on August 15 on Independence Day