DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday said his government will soon give Rs 1,000 per month to women by saving in electricity subsidy due to the shutting of around six lakh tubewells in the state. Giving Rs 1,000 per month to the women in the state was one of the main "guarantees" of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) before the 2022 Punjab assembly elections. The opposition parties have been attacking the AAP government for not "fulfilling" this pre-poll promise.

Mann was addressing a gathering after taking out a roadshow in Rupnagar in favour of the AAP candidate from the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha seat, Malvinder Singh Kang. During his speech, Mann listed out the "achievements" of his governments in the past two years.

He pointed towards the setting up of schools of eminence, opening of mohalla clinics and 43,000 jobs given on merit.

Mann further said 90 per cent households are getting zero electricity bills (300 units of free electricity per month).

"We have purchased a thermal plant and now we will make electricity cheaper for the industry", he said.

Mann said before his government was formed, 21 per cent of canal water was being used for irrigation in fields.

Today, it has reached 59 per cent and in the coming October, it will increase to 70 per cent, said Mann.

"When it (canal water utilisation) reaches 70 per cent, we have a total of 14.5 lakh tubewells in the state and out of which, 5.5 to 6 lakh tubewells will shut as canal water will reach fields.

When 5.5 lakh to 6 lakh tubewells will be shut, there will be a saving of Rs 6,000 to 7,000 crore in electricity subsidy on account of free electricity to the agriculture sector, he said.

"Where that Rs 6,000 to 7,000 crore be utilised? With that Rs 6,000 to 7,000 crore, what we had promised of giving Rs 1,000 per month to mothers and sisters will start," said Mann.

He said he has made all the calculations.

"If I wanted, I could have given a lollipop of Rs 1,000 per month for two months before the elections and stopped it afterwards. But when we start it like a free electricity scheme, it should not stop," he asserted.

He said Rs 1,000 will be given to women every month after the scheme takes off.

Meanwhile, Mann attacked the BJP, accusing it of trying to divide the people on the basis of religion and castes.

"They play the politics of hatred and they pit people against each other. But we play politics of work," he said.
(editor@dailyworld.in)