JAIPUR: Chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s decision to offer relief to power consumers evoked mixed reactions from people. While some thought it would increase power cuts in cities, others felt it would help in regulating consumption and save some money as well.
Those households consuming up to 100 units per month will get 50 units free of cost while all domestic consumers will get Rs 3 per unit subsidy up to 150 units and Rs 2 up to 300 units of power per month.
Naim Rabbani, founder of NGO - Helping Hand Foundation said, “It will change the behaviour of people and they will become more watchful about power consumption. They will try to keep consumption under the specific slab so that they can reap the benefits and end up saving money.”
“I feel there will be misuse of power consumption because of this decision. This move would result in power cuts in cities as power consumption will go up. Because of subsidies, there will be misuse of power consumption leading to shortage of electricity. Subsidy is fine, but this is an indirect invitation to inconvenience,” said Garima Choudhary, a professional.
On the other hand, there was appreciation for the government’s decision to end the New Pension Scheme (NPS) and reintroduce the old one. Dr Amit Kumar Rainkwar, assistant professor, Government Girl’s College, Bayana, said, “As far as government employees are concerned, this is a very good and a sensible move. Under the old pension scheme, an employee will be paid 50 per cent of the basic pay and 31 per cent dearness allowance (DA). However, under the NPS, if an employee’s basic pay is over 1.76 lakh, she/he would get less than Rs 18,000 as pension.”
