Karnataka to launch two of its poll-promised schemes in August: CM Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced on Thursday that his party’s free electricity scheme called ‘Gruha Jyoti’ will be launched on 1 August while the scheme to provide Rs 2,000 assistance to women per month called ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ will be launched on 17 or 18 August. The announcement came after Siddaramaiah held a high-level meeting with senior government officials today to discuss the implementation of both the schemes which were part of Congress’ poll promises. The government is planning to launch the Gruha Jyoti scheme on August 1 at Kalaburgi, while discussions were held to launch the Gruha Lakshmi scheme on August 17 or 18 in Belagavi. The new chief minister instructed officials to make the application process easy and avoid asking for unnecessary information and documents. He also ordered his officials to cite appropriate reasons in case an application is rejected by the government. Since a large number of applications are expected to be submitted for all the guarantee schemes, the CM directed the officials of the e-governance department to increase the capacity of the Seva Sindhu portal in accordance with the huge amount of data submitted, his office said in a release. The ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme will be for those women who are identified as heads of families. Women from the Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) can avail of this scheme. However, taxpayers and GST-registered families will be barred from getting the benefits of this scheme. Registration for the Gruha Jyoti scheme can be done through Seva Sindhu Portal. In addition, help desks will be established in all ESCOMs (Electricity Supply Companies). The registration process will start on June 15. The application can be submitted through Bangalore One, Karnataka One, Gram One centers and also at home through a computer or mobile app. Siddaramaiah said that both schemes will be extended to tenants too. The ‘Gruha Jyoti’ scheme can be availed by new house owners or tenants based on the state average of electricity consumption, the release said quoting the CM. Once the average of one year is available, based on this data, free electricity will be provided. Arrears of old electricity bills will be allowed to be paid till September 30. Tenants can avail this facility by submitting the agreement letter, Aadhaar card, R. R. No., and voter ID of the same address. With inputs from PTI Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook_,_  Twitter and  Instagram_._