All 5 Guarantees Will Be Implemented This Year, Announces Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday announced that all five guarantees promised by the Congress will be implemented in the present financial year.

Addressing a press conference after cabinet meeting, Siddaramaiah said all the schemes would be implemented without any bias of caste, religion and language for the people of Karnataka.

"In the cabinet meeting held today, we discussed all five promises thoroughly. Congress government is committed to its poll promises and we have decided that all five guarantees will be implemented in the present financial year," said Siddaramaiah.

"We announced these 5 guarantees before elections. Our party state chief DK Shivakumar and I signed the guarantee cards and promised that we will implement all promises and make sure they reach people. We also distributed guarantee cards," he added.

"Implementation of guarantee about 200 units of free electricity will begin from 1st July. 200 units of electricity will be free...Consumers who haven't paid their bills till July will have to pay," the chief minister said.

"We will give 10 per cent additional electricity after taking the average of the usage in 12 months. The total quantity consumed in a year will be considered and above that 10 per cent will be provided," he added.

The scheme will be implemented from July 1 and the subsidised bill will reflect in the bill generated in August.

To avail benefits under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, one has to submit Aadhaar details and bank account numbers online. The applications for the scheme should be submitted from June 15 to July 15. The amount will be deposited in the account of the woman on August 15.

The five schemes that the Congress guaranteed it would implement are

• 'Gruha Jyothi' to provide 200 units of electricity free to every household
• 'Gruha Lakshmi' to grant Rs 2,000 to every woman head of a family
• 'Anna Bhagya' to distribute 10 kg rice to every member of BPL families every month
• 'Yuva Nidhi' to sanction Rs 3,000 dole to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders for two years (in the 18-25 age-group)
• 'Shakti' to enable free travel for women across Karnataka in state buses.