Belagavi:  Karnataka Public Works Department Minister Satish Jarkiholi on Tuesday accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of “hacking” the servers leading to technical glitches over registrations for the Congress government’s “Gruha Jyothi” scheme, offering up to 200 units of free electricity. He said applications are being accepted physically too, and the state government is committed to implement the scheme at any cost, as it was it’s responsibility.

“Such things happen, there will be some trial and error, nothing big about it, we are also taking (applications) physically. There may be a month’s delay, not more than that……” Jarkiholi said in response to a question.

Reacting to a question on Union Minister Pralhad Joshi reportedly alleging no proper planning on part of the state government to implement schemes, he said, “We had planned, but the Centre has hacked our system, like they do with EVM, so there is a delay.” “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,” he added.

Reacting to Jarkiholi’s claim, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi termed it as “ridiculous” “You (Jarkiholi) are a Minister, you have said that you are a Chief Ministerial aspirant for the next term, be serious. I want to advise him not to damage Karnataka’s image by making such ridiculous statements,” he said.

Demanding that the state government or the Minister should prove the allegation, senior BJP leader and MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal said, “Giving hollow promises, and on failing to fulfill them, telling new stories every day, has become the norm for the Karnataka government.” Pointing at Chief Minister Siddaramaih’s statement regarding taking strict action against those spreading “fake news”, in a tweet he highlighted that, “now his Minister’s claims that the state government’s server is hacked by the central government is a fake news.” State BJP leader and MLC N Ravi Kumar questioned whether the Centre has a remote control to hack the state’s server. “How is it possible? Give a complaint and take action if you have proof. Don’t unnecessarily blame the Central government for everything.

Registration to the scheme is done on the ‘Seva Sindhu’ portal under a special custom-made page (https:evasindhugs.karnataka.gov.in). It is also done at Karnataka One, Grama One and Bengaluru One centers across the state.

The consumer has to enter the customer ID of the electricity bill, their Aadhar number, and mobile number.

One of the five poll guarantees of the Congress, the scheme offers up to 200 units of free electricity. It will come into effect from August 1 for July’s electricity bill.