In an appeal to Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria, former Union Minister and Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari has urged targeted welfare measures for the city’s urban poor and lower middle-class households. In a letter, Tewari raised the demand to provide 300 units of free electricity and 20,000 litres of free water each month to families earning below Rs 20,000 per month.
Drawing parallels with policy approaches adopted in Delhi and Punjab, he stressed that similar measures can be both financially sustainable and socially impactful.
Tewari said, “If you carefully peruse the annual budget of Chandigarh, there is enough fiscal space to implement the proposed measures.”
Tewari pointed out that between the actual budgetary spend in FY 2024-25 and the estimates for FY 2026-27, expenditure on Power and Renewables has come down by Rs 856.01 crore. “That is the fiscal space the Chandigarh Administration must leverage to provide 300 units of free electricity to families with a monthly income below Rs 20,000.”
“The Administration should seek Rs 856-1,000 crores in the Supplementary Demands for Grants, to be formulated in September-October 2026, to reimburse CPDL for supplying free power beginning this year itself. This can be implemented as early as July 1, 2026, if the Administration demonstrates the political will and empathy for the poor,” he asserted.
He also said, “This is the very model already being followed in Delhi and Punjab, where the governments reimburse Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) for the free or subsidised power supplied to consumers.”
He underscored that Chandigarh, as a Union Territory and the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, did not face such constraints since its funds came directly from the Central Government.
In this backdrop, he argued that Chandigarh would only be seeking from the Centre an amount equivalent to what was already being spent on power and renewable energy until FY 2024-25.
Tewari further emphasised that even from an ideological standpoint, the NDA/BJP government should have no difficulty in extending these additional funds to Chandigarh.
He recalled that on March 11, 2024, Congress and AAP councillors had by majority passed a resolution in the General House of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation to provide free water to city residents. However, the resolution was rejected by the former Governor. On July 10, 2024, however, the General House quashed that rejection and reaffirmed its resolution to provide free water, noting that the House had neither been show-caused, heard nor consulted before the rejection as required under the Municipal Corporation Act.
Tewari pointed out that the resolution for providing free water remained valid even today. He cited figures to make it clear that providing 20,000 litres of free water was both viable and affordable. He noted that the total cost of supplying free water to all residents of Chandigarh had been calculated at approximately Rs 39.65 crores as of March 30, 2024, according to figures jointly released in the public domain by the Congress and AAP.
He pointed out that Rs 166 crores had been virtually squandered on the failed 24×7 Manimajra water supply project, now under a C&AG performance audit, while an additional liability of around Rs 510 crores was undertaken through a loan commitment to Agence Française de Développement (AFD) on December 17, 2022, for the pan-city 24×7 water project.
Against this backdrop, he argued, finding Rs 15-20 odd crores to provide free water to the poor and vulnerable sections of society was loose change and could be easily managed by the Municipal Corporation, provided the Chandigarh Administration refrained from exercising its misconceived veto.
