Assam: Power freebie; Bill of Ministers’ Colony is Rs 10 lakh per month

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has asked the APDCL to shift to a total no-power freebie mode. The Ministers’ Colony alone consumed power worth Rs 10 lakh per month on average in the financial year 2023–24. The MLA quarters consumed power worth over Rs 10 lakh per month. Not lagging far behind, the IAS Colony consumed power worth Rs 4 lakh per month in the last financial year. The Secretariat Staff Quarters Colony also consumed power worth a huge amount of money.

Now on, the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary are ready to pay the power bills of their official quarters themselves on July 1, 2024. The Chief Minister made an appeal to the ministers, MLAs, and Secretariat staff members to pay the power bills of their official quarters on their own. “I was not aware of the chief ministers, ministers, MLAs, and senior IAS officers getting power free of charge. I have shifted to the no-power freebie to anyone mode when it came to my knowledge,” the Chief Minister said.

According to sources, in 2023–24, the Ministers’ Colony consumed power worth around Rs 1.20 crore, including the energy consumption of common facilities. The state has over 100 MLA quarters, and each of the quarters has four-five ACs, heaters, and other power-consuming electric gadgets, leading to more power consumption. The IAS Colony, though less in number, consumes more power as each of the quarters has three ACs on average, besides other electric gadgets.

According to sources, from top to bottom, misuse of power in all these quarters is out of the question as they do not have to pay power bills. This power-freebie regime dents the exchequer of the APDCL badly. And to make up for this loss, the APDCL has no alternative but to hike the power tariff.

A retired engineer of the then ASEB questioned, “What’s the problem for a person who gets over Rs 1 lakh of salary to pay his power bill himself when a person earning Rs 10,000 per month has to pay his power bill regularly?” 

 Also Read: Assam: CM asks APDCL to draw up plans for reducing power tariffs by 2026 (sentinelassam.com)

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