Haryana power minister, Ranjit Singh, on Tuesday said the four power distribution corporations of the state have become profitable as a result of the reforms made in the power sector in the last two years.

Addressing a Press conference, Singh said Haryana has emerged as a model before the country in this matter, which was discussed by the Union finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, in a meeting held with the Chief Ministers and finance ministers of the states through video conferencing wherein she had asked other states to follow it. This is a matter of pride for Haryana, he said.

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The minister gave the credit of this achievement of the state to Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar and the officers and employees of the power department.

He said a special programme has been prepared to complete the pending backlog of agricultural tubewell connections, under which the connections will be reviewed every week.

Division and Circle wise special teams will be assigned a programme to issue 2000 to 3000 connections immediately. He said that first 16,000 pending agricultural tube well connections will be released and a target has been set to issue 40,000 connections by 30 June, 2022.

Last year, the state government had cut the electricity rates by 37 paise per unit. He said that it is estimated that this time the power companies will get the benefit of more than Rs 2000 Crore.

Singh has said that it has often been seen that about 16 per cent of electricity bills are issued incorrectly due to various reasons, whether it is due to lack of meters or due to the house being found closed.

The minister said that so far 5427 villages are being supplied 24×7 electricity through the ‘Mhara Gaon-Jagmag Gaon Yojana’ and in the coming one year, every village of the state will be supplied with 24×7 electricity making Haryana the first state in the country to do so.

Singh said under a special campaign, more than 150 junior engineers, executive engineers, superintendent engineers and linemen have been charge sheeted and their charge sheets are being studied, as a result of which show cause notices have been issued to them first and on the basis of that they will be suspended and even their services may be terminated.