‘There’s Aadhaar card’: Why 50% of power consumers not linked to family ID in Gurugram

GURUGRAM: Only around 50% of electricity consumers in Gurugram and Faridabad have linked their power connection with Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP)so far. In districts like Rewari and Palwal, however, around 80% of consumers have already linked their power connection with PPP, according to power discom DHBVN.
In April 2022, the state government made PPP mandatory for power consumers, both existing and new ones.
PPP is basically a family identity card that contains details of all members, including their bank accounts. Those who aren’t natives of the state shall also be required to get themselves enrolled for PPP. They will get a nine-digit temporary ID that starts with the letter ‘T’.
However, of a total of 40.39 lakh DHBVN connections, around 26.41 lakh have been linked with family IDs to date. In the urban areas of Gurugram and Faridabad, people are still hesitant to enroll for PPP. DHBVN area covers districts like Bhiwani, Faridabad, Fatehabad, Gurugram, Hisar, Jind, Narnaul, Palwal, Rewari and Sirsa.
“All the existing customers need to be linked with the PPP,” DHBVN’s MD Amit Khatri told the superintendent engineers. Consumers can link their PPP online as well on the discom’s website — https://epayment.dhbvn.org.in/updateKYC.aspx — by updating their KYC.
Rewari has the maximum mapping, wherein around 80.75% of consumers have linked their PPP with their electricity connection. This is followed by Palwal at 79.85%, Jind at 75.07% and Narnaul at 72.49%. In Fatehabad, Bhiwani, Hisar and Sirsa, around 60-70% of consumers have completed the formalities.
However, the biggest resistance for the drive comes from Gurugram, where around 50% of over 3.5 lakh existing consumers have so far opted to link their electricity account with PPP. “Till now, there is no penal provision. But sooner or later, everyone will have to get PPP and link it with their connection,” said an official.
In Gurugram, some residents have reservations about PPP as they will have to disclose their family income. “We don’t want any government benefits and schemes, so why should we enroll for PPP?” said Suman Prakash, a resident of Sector 50. “There’s Aadhaar card, what is the need for PPP?”
The Haryana Parivar Pehchan Act was notified by the state government on September 6, 2021. Under the provisions of the act, all the benefits, schemes, subsidies and services will have to be linked to the PPP number. In order to map the existing electricity consumers in Haryana, a mobile application has been developed.