india

Updated: Sep 25, 2019 13:46 IST

After power, water tariff sops for Delhiites, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday announced a scheme for house tenants in the city just months ahead of the assembly elections scheduled early next year.

“Government has come up with a scheme for tenants ‘Mukhyamantri Kirayedaar Bijli Meter Yojna’ under which prepaid meters will be installed at rented accommodations, this is applicable for domestic use only,” the chief minister announced.

Kejriwal added that for installing the pre-paid meters, a copy of the rent agreement will be sufficient. “Earlier, people needed to have an NOC from the landlords.”

The Chief Minister said till now, tenants were not able to avail the Delhi government’s power subsidy scheme under which there is no charge for the electricity consumption of up to 200 units.

“It was a long-pending demand of tenants in Delhi. Tenants will have to get prepaid meter installed after depositing security money of Rs 3,000,” Kejriwal told reporters

The state government had earlier announced sops for power consumer bringing down electricity bills. Kejriwal had added that households consuming anything between 201 and 400 units per month will have to pay their electricity bill but approximately 50% of it will be subsidised by the government.

Before the power sop, Kejriwal had in August announced a waiver of all arrears of consumers towards Delhi Jal Board, a government agency responsible for supply of potable water to the most of the National Capital Territory. Kejriwal had said that households would be entitled to waiver on the principal amount of arrears depending on the category of colonies (graded from A to H) they are located in—25% for upscale colonies, 50% for middle income localities and 100% for the lower income localities.

The chief minister said the move was an open invite to the people of Delhi to join the mainstream and install water meters. “Only those consumers who have installed meters before November 30 will get the benefit of this scheme.”