New Delhi

Congress Councillors, MLAs derailing power reforms

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, MAY 27. The Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, might be angry with the private power companies for not doing their best to set the power situation in the Capital right, but by all accounts it is her own party MLAs and Councillors who are trying to derail power reforms in the Capital by adopting an indifferent attitude towards the initiatives to put an end to power theft in their respective areas.

Only last month Ms. Dikshit had written to the Reliance Energy Chairman, Anil Ambani, and the Tata Power head, Adi Engineer, complaining that they had not done enough to set the power distribution system in the Capital right and that was still plagued by local faults and constant breakdowns. However, it has been revealed that it wase the Congress MLAs and Councillors who were not only sabotaging the power reforms but also discouraging people living in the slum clusters and re-settlement areas from opting for legal connections. Interestingly, in a large number of cases it has been found that MLAs and Councillors were drawing "illegal power'' from the poles of the distribution companies to install high mast lights and even mercury lamps in their constituencies. What is even worse is that they were very proudly mentioning their names on such installations indicating that a particular elected representative had done this. However, despite bringing this matter to the notice of the authorities concerned by the power distribution companies, nothing has happened giving a green signal to the people of the area to indulge in such illegal theft of power.

In fact, in a slum cluster behind the Wazirpur Industrial Area in North-West Delhi, people have been tapping illegal power from the transformers for a long time. "We tried to prevent the power theft by putting in place certain safety mechanism, but this was also breached and to our astonishment it was found that power was being drawn illegally,'' confirmed the North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL) CEO, Anil Sardana. Interestingly, both the power companies, at the beginning of the year, had given time till December 31 to all sections, including those living in such clusters, to take illegal connection without any penalty after which they would face strict action. However, the elected representatives are derailing this new initiative of the power companies and the Delhi Government. There have been instances in Sultanpur Majra, Jehangirpuri, Mangolpuri and even Wazirpur where the elected representatives have discouraged people from taking legal power connections under the amnesty scheme.

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission had given its approval for electrification of the slum clusters by putting in place a scheme that also had the backing of the Delhi Government. Under the scheme, 50 per cent of the developmental charges are to be paid by the consumer and rest by the licensee. For electrification charges, 50 per cent of these charges of Rs. 600 would be payable at the time of power connection and the balance 50 per cent payable in 24 monthly instalments of Rs. 25 each. The consumer would also have to pay a nominal charge of Rs. 175 per month for consumption of energy. Unfortunately, this scheme threatens to be derailed as the party MLAs and Councillors are impressing upon the slum cluster population not to get themselves registered under the scheme. "The power companies have tried to hold a number of camps to make this scheme popular among those living in JJ clusters. However, the response has been very poor, as MLAs have been provoking people not to get themselves registered under the scheme. It is high time that the Delhi Government directs its MLAs and Councillors to popularise this scheme or face derailment of power reforms process in the Capital,'' remarked a senior official.

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