Nasrul wants withdrawal of TIN requirement for lifeline subscribers

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has requested the finance ministry to withdraw the proposal of submitting Tax Identification Number (TIN) by lifeline subscribers to get power connection.

“The lifeline subscribers are extremely poor as they usually consume electricity below 50 units per month and most of them are day labourers. They will face trouble in getting TIN and it will be inhuman,” he said, reports BSS.

The state minister on Monday issued a Demand Order (DO) and sent it to Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal for withdrawing the proposal made in the new national budget.

Nasrul said that as per the election manifesto the Awami League government has a target to supply electricity to every house by 2021. So this budget proposal will go against the target, he added.

He said the total number of subscribers reached 33.4 million, of which 26.4 million are under Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) including 12.0 million lifeline subscribers.

According to the power ministry, the lifeline subscribers are identified on the basis of their highest (50 units) use of electricity per month.

Earlier on June 13, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in his budget speech proposed to make submission of TIN mandatory for obtaining or maintaining power connection.