Political parties in Punjab woo voters with power subsidies before polls

CHANDIGARH: In Punjab, populism is trumping good economics - as it does every time ahead of elections. Two months ahead of the state polls, political parties are now wooing voters with power subsidies.

While the ruling Akali-BJP combine has promised to extend the benefit of 100 free units per month to five lakh more families from the present 10 lakh families, state Congress president Amarinder Singh has vowed to continue with the free power scheme, besides providing subsidised 'aata-daal' to poor.

Providing subsidised power to farmers has become part of every party's marketing mantra in the state. After coming to power, the Akalis-led government increased the power subsidy for Dalits and below-poverty-line families to 200 units instead of the 100 units announced by the previous Congress regime. The Badal government had later reduced the largesse to 100 units as part of its fiscal "reforms".

On Wednesday, Singh promised to restore that level to 200 units per family. Addressing a rally on the last day of the Punjab Bachao Yatra here on Wednesday, the Singh said the chief minister and deputy CM were "spreading lies that the Congress would discontinue these policies".

He said he was the one who started giving free power to farmers.

But industry experts feel the subsidy is ruining the state economy. "To pay for the subsidies, the Punjab government has enhanced the electricity duty for urban consumers and industries many times in the last few years," said APEX Chamber of Commerce (Punjab) president PD Sharma.

This duty is the highest in the country at 13% ad valorem and the state government has made a provision to increase it further to 25%, Sharma said.