Soon after former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda demanded electricity bill waiver for next three months for those consuming less than 300 units monthly, Haryana government declared that it had deferred recovery of domestic bills for the same period with no late charges. Speaking during a digital press conference, Hooda argued: “This (waving domestic power bills up to 300 units) will benefit the poor, the middle class and small shopkeepers.An economic package too should be announced for small, cottage and medium industries.” In no time, Haryana Power Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala declared, "We have postponed recovery of domestic bills for three months including the lockdown period. There will be no late charges if the consumers deposit the bills after the lockdown period. We have given concessions to the industries under which the power bills can be deposited in six installments." The former CM also criticised government decision to increase VAT on fuel. “The BJP government had already increased VAT on diesel petrol to 17.4 per cent from 9.24 per cent of our tenure. Now, in this period of an international crisis, the government is putting additional taxes on petrol-diesel, fruit-vegetables and is raising bus fares. Instead of hitting the common man with additional taxes, a higher tax should be imposed on alcohol, cigarettes and other items consumed by the affluent sections of the society,” he said.
