The Hindu : New Delhi News : `CAG should probe private power companies' accounts'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 22, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

`CAG should probe private power companies' accounts'

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 21. The Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president, Harsh Vardhan, today demanded that the Lieutenant-Governor order an enquiry by the Comptroller and Auditor General into the accounts of all the three private companies supplying power in the city. He accused these companies of virtually robbing the resident of the Capital.

In a statement, Dr Vardhan said that with these companies about to complete three years of operations in Delhi, it was pertinent to note that the power tariffs had shot up by a whopping 30 per cent in this period. Further, he charged, despite the tariff increases the companies had shown a loss of Rs 2,400 crores in their operations and were using this as a ploy to further increase the power charges by 64 per cent.

Charging that the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission, to which the loss statement had been presented, was colluding with these companies, the BJP has demanded that the demand for 64 per cent was also a mode of bargaining employed by the companies to get a final hike of around 15 per cent.

Stating that it had been reliably learnt that the Commission would increase the power charges by 10 per cent to 15 per cent, Dr. Vardhan claimed that with this the purpose of privatisations now stood defeated as people were not getting a good supply, about Rs 400 crores was still due to the retired Delhi Vidyut Board employees, and the public was now being forced to pay through the nose. Stating that these private companies were purchasing power from Transco at half the rate, the BJP leader wondered how they were still running at a loss. At the time of privatisation, he said, the Government had given an exemption of Rs 35,000 crores to them and handed them assets worth hundreds of crores of rupees at throwaway prices but they are still laying off employees, increasing the tariffs, selling off land meant for power supplies to business establishments and showing losses.

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