Pending electricity bills of 1984 riot victims waived

New Delhi: The Delhi government has decided to waive the pending electricity bills of 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said here on Thursday.

"The cabinet decided yesterday (Wednesday) that pending electricity bills of 1984 riot victims living in Delhi will be waived off, and they will get 50 per cent subsidy till 400 units in future," Sisodia said.

Many of the riot victims who were rehabilitated in different parts of the city had electricity bills pending against them, and they have been urging the government to waive their bills for a long time, he added.

The Deputy Chief Minister said the victims were mainly senior citizens and widows, and were staying in areas where subsidies on electricity bills were not applicable.

"Around 2,500 families will benefit from this decision," he said.

Sisodia also announced that types of works that can be done with budget allocated for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) have been increased, as funds were left unspent in the past.

Earlier, only five types of works like building roads, toilets and drains could be done with the funds. Even if people wanted any other work to be done with the money, it was not possible, the Deputy Chief Minister said.

"Now, we have added 23 types of works that can be done using the money, including garbage collection, building parks, libraries, water tanks, and working women`s hostels," he added.

"Now, many little but important works can be done using these funds and it will help to develop around 5,500 blocks where SCs and STs are in a majority," Sisodia said.