New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, along with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann on Sunday launched 'Bijli Andolan' in Panchkula to protest against power cuts in Haryana.
Addressing a public rally in Chandigarh, Kejriwal said, "We have shown that electricity can be given 24 hours and free of cost. Despite that, Delhi government has not run into losses."
"Can anybody name a state ruled by Congress or BJP where 24 hours electricity is available?... If you vote for either of them, there will be only power cuts & your entire savings will be finished by paying the electricity bill," he added.
Ahead of the protest, the party's Haryana unit president, said the campaign aims to force the Manohar Lal Khattar government to ensure free, round-the-clock electricity in Haryana, as done by AAP in Punjab and Delhi. The people of Haryana are facing massive power outages, said Gupta, alleging that the Khattar government is doing nothing to improve the situation.
Drawing a comparison with Delhi and Punjab, he further claimed that 87 per cent of domestic consumers in Punjab get free electricity, while Haryana's electricity consumption increased to 2.53 crore units per day in the last nine years.
"But the Haryana government has been a complete failure in meeting this demand," PTI quoted Gupta as saying.
Haryana AAP chief claimed that every segment of the state has been bearing the brunt of long power outages. While the majority of the industries are depending on generators to meet the electricity demand, several units are migrating to other states, Gupta said.
He further alleged that farmers are getting just two-three hours' supply a day during the paddy sowing season.
Meanwhile, Anurag Dhanda, the AAP's senior vice-president in Haryana, claimed that the state government also increased the electricity procurement rate by nine per cent to Rs 3.20 a unit to benefit the private producer.