Fake: Centre has not devised a scheme to waive electricity bills

New Delhi, Aug 28: A forward on WhatsApp claims that the government has decided to waive off the electricity bill of every household in the country.

The forward comes in the wake of several states deciding to either waive off or have planned to bear the excess amount in inflated power bills.

The forward in Hindi says that just like the Bijli Bill Maafi Yojana (Bill Waiver Scheme), the government has planned to waive off the electricity bills of all households in the country starting September 1.

This is a misleading claim and no government has planned any such move. The Maharashtra Government had considered a waiver in the electricity bills. The state is mulling over dividing the waiver into three slabs based on the power consumption by each household. It will bear the entire excess cost if the usage mentioned in the bill for these months is up to 100 units in excess to the usage of the corresponding period last year.

For 101-300 unites, it has proposed to waive off 75 per cent of the excess and 50 per cent up to 500 units. The proposal was mooted after many received inflated power bills for the months of April, May, June.

There have been demands in many other states to waive off the electricity bills. Many have complained of inflated bills. Others said that if the government considers waiving off the electricity bill, then it would help the people affected economically duet to the lockdown.

Responding to the fake forward, Prasar Bharti too tweeted that the Central Government has not made any announcement on the lines of the Bijli Bill Maafi Yojana.