Eyening the upcoming Assembly elections, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday announced a complete waiver of fuel surcharge for domestic and agricultural categories consuming more than 200 units of electricity.
The announcement comes a day after Gehlot announced increasing Other Backwards Class (OBC) reservations from 21 to 27% in the state.
The announcement was made during the launch of the Indira Gandhi Smart Phone Scheme in a programme organised in Jaipur on Thursday.
Gehlot said that instead of waiving the fuel surcharge, the government would give Rs.2,500 crore to the power companies. “Fuel surcharge for agricultural and domestic consumers is now completely waived. Now, consumers will not have to pay fuel surcharge even after consuming more than 200 units of electricity,” Gehlot announced.
The chief minister said there was a demand from the people that the fuel surcharge be waived. Earlier, the fuel surcharge was waived up to 200 units, now, no fuel surcharge will have to be paid.
In June, Gehlot had announced electricity bill waiver on the consumption of power up to the first 100 units. For the middle class, the customers will get free electricity for the first 100 units. Their fixed charges, fuel surcharge and other charges for the first 200 units will be waived off and the cost will be paid by the state government.
The Rajasthan government on the CM Free Electricity Scheme – 100 units of domestic electricity free and up to 200 units fixed charges waived; and Free 2000 units of agricultural electricity per month to farmers – will be spending around Rs.27000 crore.
