Better Punjab Government to test whether they can give 100 units of electricity per family free of cost for 5 years of tenure before planning to give 300 units of electricity per family.
Recently in Punjab AAP came into the power and as part of election promise that they promised to give 300 units of electricity per family.
First of all as per our assessment, it is not possible to give 300 units of electricity to each family in Punjab for 5 years.
Recently Punjab Government asked central government to provide 50,000 Crores INR to run Punjab Government.
For such a government, how it is possible to give 300 units of electricity to all Punjab families.
Similar to Punjab Government rest of the states can also ask for 50,000 Crores INR from Central Government.
But from where the money will be coming from central government? It is from taxes paid by all states people either in the form of direct taxes or indirect taxes.
Do anyone has feeling that central government will just print money and give? It's not the case.
Based upon some predefined formulas central government will be giving funds to states to provide equal justice to all states.
No where it was mentioned what will be the burden per month on Punjab Government if they give 300 units free of cost to all families in Punjab.
What will be the annual burden? What is Punjab Government plan to get this budget and how they will earn it?
We are happy to listen answers to these queries.
Learn something by looking at Sri Lanka financial crisis.
It is our sincere suggestion to test whether Punjab Government will be able to give 100 units of free electricity to each and every family in the Punjab before planning to give 300 units per family.
May be they can try for first 3 years of tenure to know pros and cons of this policy.
As per us providing 300 units of electricity to each and every family per month for entire period of 5 years is not practically possible.
Let us calculate expected burden on Punjab government because of this policy.
Population of Punjab is 3 crores. So let us estimate 4 persons per family and this leads to 75 lakh families in Punjab.
If state government is honest, it is possible to get each unit at an average price between 3 INR to 3.50 INR per unit. Let us assume lower end cost i.e 3 INR per unit.
Total cost per 1 year on Punjab Government = 12 months * 75 lakh families * 250 units * 3 INR = 6,750 Crores INR.
Instead of 300 units, I took just 250 units because never in the last 12 months neither my family electricity bill nor my parents house electricity bill exceeded 250 units per month. Of course neither my family nor my father family do not have AC in the house. If AC is there in the house, 300 units of consumption will be there per home.
So Punjab government needs to spend between 6,750 Crores INR to 7,500 Crores INR.
Entire budget of Punjab for 2020-21 was 154,805 Crores INR. So 4.52% of budget will be going just to implement this policy.
Debt of Punjab by the end of 2021 was 2.82 lakh Crores INR.
What is the plan for Punjab government to generate these 7,000 Crores INR without levying additional taxes on common man or middle class man?
We are happy to listen to this.