Karnataka govt's 2 guarantees 'Anna Bhagya' and 'Gruha Jyothi' come into effect from Saturday

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Karnataka — cash for beneficiaries in lieu of the additional 5 kg of rice under 'Anna Bhagya' scheme, and 200 units of free electricity to households under 'Gruha Jyothi' scheme, has come into force effective from Saturday. The government has already implemented one of its five poll guarantees, "Shakti", by providing free services for women in public transport buses.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said payment of money to beneficiaries under Anna Bhagya scheme for this month is likely to begin after July 10; while the Gruha Jyothi scheme has come into effect from today and the electricity bill for the same for this month will come in beginning of August, as per the billing cycle. «We have said July month's amount (under Anna Bhagya scheme) will be paid to beneficiaries in July itself, instead of rice.

We had not said, we will pay it on July 1st itself...most likely we will start making the payments after July 10. This month's amount will be deposited into bank account of the beneficiaries within this month,» Siddaramaiah said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, «The Gruha Jyothi scheme will begin from today, so from this month it will be free (upto 200 units), but the bill will come in August.» Facing difficulty in procuring large quantities of rice required to fulfil its poll guarantee, the state government decided to pay cash to beneficiaries at the rate of Rs 34 per kilo, for the additional 5kg of rice under the free rice scheme, which is applicable to every member of a BPL household.Food and Civil Supplies Minister K H Muniyappa said, amount will be transferred to the bank account of the beneficiaries in a week or 10 days. «90 percent of beneficiaries have a bank account....5kgs per person means, the