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| - Fact Check: No, electricity has not been a freebie for Kashmiris till date
Social Media users claimed residents of Kashmir have been receiving free electricity since India gained independence. However, it is not true.
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India Today Fact Check
Electricity has always been subject to charges in Kashmir. However, there is rampant electricity theft there. Recently, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha declared a firm policy against this.
Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed several protests in recent times against the installation of smart electricity metres in households. Amid this, a social media post has started making rounds with a surprising claim. According to some netizens, the people of Kashmir have enjoyed electricity for free since independence. But now, they will need to pay for it.
For instance, a Facebook user had posted a status in Hindi that read, "People in Kashmir will have to pay electricity bills! Yes, Kashmiris used to get free electricity since independence till date."
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, ... — 8.8K (@dur9411266636) June 25, 2022
Archived versions of these posts can be seen here.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found these posts to be misleading. Kashmir residents were always charged for their electricity consumption.
AFWA Probe
A keyword search took us to a news report from 21 August 2021. It was on a protest held in Kashmir's Baramulla district against ‘inflated’ power bills. This gave us an immediate hint that the claim was false.
We visited the official website of Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited, the body that supplies electricity to the Valley. It had the tariff plans for the domestic consumers of Kashmir -- confirming that the electricity supply was never free for the residents.
As per the tariff chart for domestic use in Jammu and Kashmir, the first 100 units cost Rs 1.69 RS per unit. The price reaches 3.52 RS for every unit after 400.
A report on May 9 by The Tribune said that the power distributors have proposed a hike in electricity tariffs to cover their losses, which amounts to nearly 4000 crores.
According to a report of Greater Kashmir on 11 September 2021, Jammu & Kashmir has spent Rs 6200 Cr annually on power purchases while its revenue realization is just Rs 2600 Cr on account of tariffs collected from consumers.
So how did this rumour spread?
Another search for the viral claim led us to multiple news reports that quoted J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha saying that electricity won’t be given to people without paying for it and those who won’t pay money won’t get electricity.
While reporting this, many websites carried a headline that read, "Pay Money To Get Power, No More Free Electricity Now: LG Sinha", creating confusion about whether electricity was free of cost in Kashmir.
We found out the speech of LG where he said that for those who are not willing to pay their bills, the electricity supply would no longer be available. However, he did not mention Kashmiris entirely in the speech. His address was clearly for those who do not pay their bills.
Why is the board struggling?
Surinder Sagar, a journalist from the Kashmir Times said, "The electricity is never free in Kashmir. But there is a section of people in the Valley who do not pay bills despite using the service. But things have changed after Jammu & Kashmir became union territory. The Lieutenant Governor has just made this clear. Looks like now power supply will no longer be available for those unwilling to pay bills."
While searching for the reason behind such a mammoth loss, we came across a 2015 report of Daily Excelsior, a daily from Kashmir. The article mentioned the imbalance of revenue between Kashmir and Jammu. Despite equal consumption of power, many Kashmiris have a record of non-payment of their electricity bills.
A detailed report of the Jammu & Kashmir State Electricity Regulatory Commission from 2016-17 predicted a revenue gap of more than 2000 crore for the financial year 2020-21.
Hence, it is clear that the viral post that claims Kashmiris were receiving electricity for free since independence is not true.
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