Himanta Sarma 'ends VIP culture', public servants to pay power bills from July

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday announced that all public servants in the state will have to pay for their electricity consumption beginning July.

Himanta Sarma added that he and the Chief Secretary will start paying their power bills starting July 1 to set an example.

"We are ending the VIP culture rule of paying electricity bills for government officials using taxpayer money. Myself and the Chief Secretary will set an example and start paying our power bills from July 1 onwards. Beginning in July 2024, all public servants will have to pay for their electricity consumption," Himanta Sarma said in a video message on X.

"We usually find that the electricity bills of the residences of our ministers and senior government officers or the residences of the secretariat were being paid by the government for so long. This is a legacy of 75 years, not a new system," the Assam Chief Minister said.

"No government, no chief minister, no chief secretary, the electricity bill used in everyone's house was being paid by the state government so far from the budget. We have decided, with effect from July 1, be it the chief minister, ministers, senior officers, we will pay our electricity bills, so that they do not have to increase the electricity charges in lieu of the losses that the electricity board incurs due to our non-payment," he added during an event.

Sarma unveiled the Janata Bhawan Solar Project, a 2.5-Megawatt power generation capacity grid-connected rooftop and ground-mounted solar PV system, at a ceremony held at the state Secretariat Complex in Guwahati.

The Chief Minister asked every government office to adopt solar power in a gradual and phased manner. In the initial phase, Sarma called upon medical colleges and universities to make a transition to solar energy.

"We have undertaken an initiative to implement auto-disconnection of electricity at all govt offices barring CM Secretary, home and finance departments at 8 pm so that we can save electricity. This measure is already in place at 8,000 government offices, schools, across the state," Himanta Sarma said.