Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has extended the deadline for the ongoing door-to-door verification of beneficiaries under the Gruha Jyothi scheme to September 30. The Energy Department issued the order on Monday, providing beneficiaries an additional month to complete the verification.
The verification exercise began on July 1, with meter readers and officials from the State’s electricity supply companies visiting beneficiary households to confirm records and update details.
Lakhs of beneficiaries still pending
The Gruha Jyothi scheme, launched in July 2023, provides eligible households with up to 200 units of free electricity every month.
As of August 31, BESCOM had completed verification for 46,70,588 beneficiaries, representing nearly 68 per cent of its 68,86,860 beneficiaries across eight districts. A significant number of households therefore remain to be covered.
BESCOM Managing Director N Shivashankara has appealed to beneficiaries who are yet to complete the process to cooperate with meter readers and provide the required documents when officials visit their homes from September 1.
Locked homes will get more chances
BESCOM has said that households found locked will be visited up to three times at different time slots. Staff will record the property’s location and mark the status as “DL” in the mobile application.
An SMS containing the meter reader’s name and contact number will also be sent to the registered mobile number after each such visit. Beneficiaries can then contact the concerned official to complete verification.
The extension is expected to give households that missed earlier visits more time to complete the process and ensure eligible beneficiaries are not left out of the verification exercise.