Karnataka citizens are refusing to pay their electricity bills to the government because of the pre-poll promise of “free electricity” by the Congress party. Several videos have surfaced where electricity officials are being heckled and mistreated.
Citizens across Karnataka are rebelling against electricity officials and refusing to pay their bills referring to the promise of 200 units of free electricity that Congress made before the elections. The election strategy seems to be backfiring now, with citizens holding the freshly-elected government accountable to fulfil those promises.
On Wednesday, a video of a local villager heckling a GESCOM (Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company Limited) employee went viral on social media. The employee had asked the villager to pay electricity bill. After the villager refused to pay it, the employee tried to cut his electricity supply, but was slapped by the villager. In the video, the official and the villager can be seen exchanging heated words in raised voices.
The incident took place in Kukanapalli village of Koppal district in Karnataka. The resident claimed that according to the promise made by the government, they will not pay electricity bill from now on. After the video went viral, the villager was arrested as a complaint was filed in the Munirabad Police Station.
Multiple Incidents of Such Rebellions Surface
This incident in Kukanapalli was not an isolated instance. Several skirmishes between the locals and officials have surfaced over the past few days, ever since Congress assumed power in the state. Last week, another video had surfaced on social media where a group of villagers could be seen arguing with an electricity official who had come to collect the bill. The villagers can be heard refusing to pay the bill, and urging their fellow villagers also not to pay their respective bills.
The villagers are asking the official to “go collect it from them [Congress]” as seen in the video. This incident reportedly happened in Jaalikatte area of Karnataka. The video was shared on social media by Amit Malviya, the head of BJP’s national IT Department. After the official said that free electricity can only be given if the government orders it, a villager tells him to talk to the Congress about it.
In another incident reported by a reputed media house in India, a woman can be seen refusing to pay the bills in Chitradurga district of Karnataka. She claimed that since they voted for Congress in the recently concluded assembly elections, they were “entitled to these guarantees” of free electricity made by the Congress party. She also mentioned the newly appointed Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, asking the official to collect the bills from the two top-most executives in the state.
Congress’ ‘Gruha Jyothi Yojana’
While campaigning for the crucial Karnataka elections, DK Shivakumar had promised to “brighten every house” under their ‘Gruha Jyothi Yojana’ if they were elected to power. To echo and reinforce this sentiment by Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah had claimed that 200 units of free electricity would be awarded per month to all the citizens of Karnataka without any discrimination.
The Actual Cost: Feasibility of the Promised Freebies
According to projections, the total cost of actually handing out the freebies promised by Congress in the form of electricity subsidies would sum up to around 62,000 crore rupees per year. This occupies nearly 20% of Karnataka’s annual state budget. It is noteworthy that this amount required to hand-out the subsidies is almost equal to the previous year’s budget deficit. While the Congress drags its feet in fulfilling the promises, citizens get enraged.
