The Hindu : Power scheme will prove `onions' for Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 30, 2003

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Power scheme will prove `onions' for Congress

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI MAY 29. The Lok Janshakti Party senior vice-president, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, today warned that "open loot'' of the poor people living in slum clusters, unauthorised colonies and resettlement colonies by private power contractors providing electricity through the single-point delivery scheme would prove to be the Congress party's Waterloo during the forthcoming Delhi Assembly elections. It would affect the Congress the same way as onions had damaged the BJP's prospects in 1998, he added.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Bidhuri demanded handing over of investigations into the massive loot being indulged in by the private power contractors to the Crime Branch of the Delhi police. He also demanded registration of criminal cases against the private power supply contractors and also against officials of the erstwhile Delhi Vidyut Board who, he charged, were responsible for this mess.

He said a delegation of non-Congress and non-BJP parties met Delhi's Police Commissioner, R.S. Gupta, today and raised this issue. Terming the whole matter as a multicrore scam, Mr. Bidhuri said it was shocking that everything was taking place under the patronage of government agencies and private power companies. This despite the fact that the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) had passed an order terming the whole scheme as illegal and unjust.

Mr.Bidhuri said despite the DERC order no action had been taken against the erring private contractors who were either relatives of Congress MLAs or their supporters who had been given these contracts for fleecing lakhs of poor residents. "What was even more shocking was that these poor people were being forced to pay Rs. 4,000 to Rs.7,000 as development and security charges. In addition, Rs. 3 to 5 per unit was being charged by the private contractors against all rules and regulations. These contractors had not only printed their own power bills but were also issuing receipts and installing fault meters which worked overtime to raise a huge electricity bill,'' Mr. Bidhuri said.

He claimed that nearly 20 lakh connections had been given by the 10,000 private contractors under the single-point delivery scheme and the money collected from it during the past three years was in the region of around Rs. 3,000 crores. While the Government is on record that it had not received more than Rs. 2 crores per month as revenue, it is a mystery where all this big money has gone.

He alleged that the booty was being shared by Congress MLAs and their relatives along with the private contractors.

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