Bhopal, May 5 -- In a troubling trend across Bhopal, tenants are being charged up to three times the official electricity rate - despite the Madhya Pradesh government offering up to 150 units free under the Indira Grah Jyoti Yojna.
Tenants - many of them students and migrant workers - say landlords in areas like Arera Colony, Shahpura, Kolar, MP Nagar and New Market refuse to install separate electricity meters. Instead, they use sub-meters and charge flat rates between Rs 10 and Rs 13 per unit - far above the subsidised tariff.
"I get a handwritten bill saying I've used 90 units and must pay Rs 12 per unit," said Ravi Kumar, an engineering student from Bihar. "I've never seen the actual electricity bill. When I asked, the landlord told m...