Next Punjab govt will face ₹10,000 cr power subsidy bill

Patiala Freebies, being given away ahead of Punjab’s assembly elections to the power sector, will saddle the next government with a bill of nearly ₹10,000, data shows. For the remaining three months and a few days of this fiscal itself, the state government has to pay the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) ₹13,000 crore, an uphill task for the cash-strapped regime.

Since assuming power in 2017, the Congress government has also defaulted on paying subsidy dues in every fiscal. The previous SAD-BJP regime had left arrears of ₹2,342 crore for it, this government has now allowed this burden to ballon to almost ₹10,000 crore.

For PSPCL, this non-payment of dues in lieu of subsidies clubbed with the recent poll sops, has dried up its coffers; the utility is in acute financial stress. The corporation has not even received ₹2,023 crore in lieu of writing off arrears of defaulting 2 KW consumers.