North India Statesman
News India Live, Digital Desk: Nitish Kumar Announced: There is a great news for the people of Bihar! Making an important announcement, the state government has said that soon more than one crore 67 lakh families of the state will get free electricity up to 125 units per month. A target has been set to start this historic plan by March 2025, which will be directly benefited by poor and middle class families in their electricity bill. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar himself announced this new initiative and said that the government is committed to reducing the burden of electricity bills on the general public, especially rural and deprived classes. He emphasized that Bihar is now progressing continuously, and all the people of the state are benefiting from the government’s schemes. This free electricity scheme will be fully run with its resources of the state government. It is estimated that the Bihar government will bear the cost of about four thousand crore rupees annually on this scheme, so that such a large number of families can be given financial relief. This ambitious initiative of the government is being linked to the completion of the process of installing a smart meter. These smart meters will help in accurate monitoring of electricity use and will ensure efficient implementation of the scheme. This new scheme is considered more wide and more profitable for domestic consumers than the central government’s ‘Utsav Jyoti Yojana’, which was also mentioned by the Chief Minister comparing the Delhi model. While 75 units in Delhi started from free electricity and later it was extended to 200 units, this scheme of Bihar is initially providing 125 units of free electricity to domestic consumers. Earlier, the Bihar government had announced free electricity up to 50 units in rural areas for electricity used in agricultural works, but this new initiative will mainly provide great relief to domestic consumers of urban and rural areas. This step is being considered a major masterstroke taken by Nitish government before the assembly elections, which will make the pressure of growing inflation somewhat less and their lives will be a little easier.
