The Public Works Department Minister of Karnataka, Satish Jarkiholi, made serious allegations on Tuesday, accusing the BJP-led government at the Centre of hacking the servers, which resulted in technical glitches during the registration process for the Congress government’s “Gruha Jyothi” scheme. The scheme aims to provide up to 200 units of free electricity. Minister Jarkiholi stated that while applications are being accepted physically, the state government is determined to implement the scheme at any cost, as it is their responsibility.
Jarkiholi responded to questions regarding the technical issues by saying, “Such things happen; there will be some trial and error, nothing big about it. We are also accepting applications physically. There may be a month’s delay, not more than that.” He further alleged, “The Central government is hacking our system, we are repairing it… we will implement the scheme at any cost. The CM has already said it is our responsibility; we will do it.”
In response to Jarkiholi’s claims, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, a senior BJP leader, dismissed the allegations as “ridiculous.” Joshi advised Jarkiholi, who aspires to be the Chief Minister in the next term, to take the matter seriously and not tarnish Karnataka’s image with such baseless statements.
Demanding proof of the hacking allegation, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, another senior BJP leader and MLA, criticized the state government, stating, “Giving hollow promises and then creating new stories every day after failing to fulfill them has become the norm for the Karnataka government.”
State BJP leader and MLC N Ravi Kumar questioned the possibility of the Centre having remote control to hack the state’s server and urged Jarkiholi to provide evidence and file a complaint if there is any.
Registration for the “Gruha Jyothi” scheme is conducted through the “Seva Sindhu” portal, available at a custom-made page (https://sevasindhugs.karnataka.gov.in). Applicants can also register at Karnataka One, Grama One, and Bengaluru One centers across the state. To complete the registration, consumers need to provide their electricity bill customer ID, Aadhar number, and mobile number.
The “Gruha Jyothi” scheme, which is one of the Congress party’s five poll guarantees, offers up to 200 units of free electricity. The scheme is set to take effect from August 1, with benefits applicable to the electricity bill for July.
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