Bhopal: A virtual meeting of the Cabinet was held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The Cabinet has decided to give subsidy of over Rs 20 thousand crore in electricity rates to domestic and agricultural consumers for the financial year 2021-22. In the scheme implemented for domestic consumers, a maximum bill of Rs 100 up to the first 100 units on monthly consumption of up to 150 units, and for the BPL domestic consumers of SC and ST, the provision of charging Rs.100 in 4 months at the rate of only Rs.25 per month from domestic consumers, whose monthly consumption is 30 units, has been continued this year as well. A subsidy of Rs.4981 crore 69 lakh has been approved under the Griha Jyoti Yojana.
The Cabinet has also decided to provide relief in electricity rates to the agricultural consumer category. In this, a flat rate of Rs 750 per horsepower per year will be payable to the consumers of meterless permanent agricultural pump of capacity up to 10 horsepower. The remaining amount will be payable by the state government as subsidy. For this, a subsidy of Rs 9876 crore will be provided by the state government to the distribution companies. About 21 lakh 75 thousand agricultural pump consumers of the state will be benefited by this decision. A flat rate of Rs 1500 per horsepower per year will be payable by the consumer of a meterless permanent agricultural pump with a capacity of more than 10 horsepower. The remaining amount will be payable by the state government to the distribution companies as subsidy. For this a subsidy of Rs 644 crore will be provided which will benefit about 50 thousand agricultural pump consumers of the state. Energy charges, fuel charges and fixed charges will be waived on permanent and temporary metered agricultural pump combinations. The rebate amount is paid by the state government to the companies in the form of subsidy. For this an amount of Rs 350 crore will be payable and about 2 lakh temporary and 20 thousand meter permanent agricultural pump consumers will be benefitted. Free electricity will be provided to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe agricultural consumers of up to 5 horsepower having land up to one hectare. The entire amount of the bill will be payable by the state government as subsidy. About 9 lakh 25 thousand agricultural pump consumers will be benefited by this. For this, an amount of Rs 4733 crore will be given by the state government as subsidy to the distribution companies.
For this, an amount of Rs 4733 crore will be given by the state government as subsidy to the distribution companies. Energy charges and annual minimum charges will be waived off for high pressure lift/group irrigation consumers. The exemption amount will be borne by the state government as subsidy. For this, an amount of Rs 90 crore will be payable as subsidy. With the decision taken by the Cabinet, the consumers of agriculture sector of the state will get annual relief of Rs 15,722 crore 87 lakh in electricity bill.
‘Mukhya Mantri Ration Aapke Dwar’ scheme approved
The Cabinet has decided to implement ‘Mukhya Mantri Ration Aapke Dwar’ scheme for the convenience of poor tribal families, for distribution of ration material from their village to the eligible families of dependent villages of fair price shops in tribal development blocks of the state. This scheme will be implemented in the tribal development blocks of the remaining districts except the districts of the election code of conduct. Under the scheme, tribal families of 7511 villages will be benefited in 74 development blocks of 16 districts. Apart from the headquarter village, the distribution of ration material will be done by transporting it through vehicle in other villages attached to the shop. The days of each month will be fixed by the collector for distribution in the village. On an average, 220 to 440 quintals of food items will be distributed by a vehicle for 22 to 25 days (excluding holidays) in a month. An estimated 472 vehicles will be used for food transportation. Annual expenditure of Rs.24 thousand per month on one metric ton vehicle and Rs.31 thousand per month on 2 metric ton vehicle is estimated at Rs.14 crore 7 lakh.
Quality of the food grains being loaded in the vehicle, will be tested. All arrangements like electronic weighing machine, mic, speaker, POS for weighing material in vehicle will be made to keep the machine, sit and keep the food safe. For the arrangement of vehicles, a contract will be signed with the transporters at the district level.
The transporters shall be residents of the villages of the same area in the 21 to 45 age group and they will belong to the Scheduled Tribes category. Fixed expenses will be paid to the transporters every month. Margin money will be provided to the transporter on the loan amount for the purchase of vehicle. Margin money of Rs.2 lakh will be paid for vehicle of 1 metric ton capacity and Rs.3 lakh for vehicle of 2 metric ton or more capacity. A lump sum amount of margin money of Rs 9 crore 69 lakh can be paid by the Tribal Affairs Department.
Due to the provision of operating fair price shop under Public Distribution System at the Gram Panchayat level and due to lack of easy means of transport, the eligible families of the remaining dependent villages except the headquarter village, had to cover a distance of nearly 5 km and carry goods weighing 23 to 37 kg on their heads. Disabled people, old and physically challenged persons face difficulty in getting ration material from the shop and poor families also suffer loss of wages. In view of these facts, this decision has been taken by the Cabinet. The scheme will save the labour and earning of the beneficiary and this will ensure supply of ration material to the eligible families in their village and timely distribution of ration material.
