Dhumal accuses Virbhadra of changing names of central schemes

BJP leader P K Dhumal today accused Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh of changing the names of the schemes fully funded and sponsored by the Centre to derive political mileage.
Himachal Pradesh government has changed the names of centrally funded scheme like Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DEPL) and Energy Efficient Smart Street Lighting Programme (EESSLP) to derive political benefit, he said in a statement here today.
Dhumal said the twin energy saving schemes, launched by Prime minister Narendra Modi, were being implemented in the other states under the same name but strangely, the Himachal Pradesh government has changed the name of the EESSLP as RISHTA.

He said complete transparency should be ensured in implementation of the scheme, and LED bulbs should be distributed directly by State Electricity Board which would not only cut the cost of LED bulb by Rs 30 and make it available for Rs 70, but also ensure that quality would not be compromised.
Demanding that the LED bulbs should be distributed free of cost to all electricity consumers, Dhumal said poor consumers would not be able to bear the cost of LED bulbs as the monthly installment would be more than their monthly power bills.
"The LED bulbs would have been distributed free of cost had there been BJP government in the state," he claimed.

Dhumal pointed out that under the CFL distribution scheme, two CFLs of 15 Watt and two of 20 Watt were distributed free of cost, but under the LED scheme, all bulbs of 7 watt are being distributed which may not be sufficient for lighting big rooms in traditional houses.
He suggested that under LED scheme the two bulbs of 7 Watt and three bulbs of 9 Watt should be distributed on the pattern of other states.
He also appealed the state government to distribute LED bulbs manufactured by leading companies to maintain quality standards and criticised the State government for adopting the discriminatory approach in distribution of LED bulbs and development programmes in the State.