NEW DELHI: The focus has shifted once again to the issue of electronic meters that has reached a flashpoint between the Sheila Dikshit Government and lakhs of power consumers across the Capital who have been foisted with inflated bills. The Government's reluctance to deal with such a "sensitive matter'' has aggravated matters further with residents' welfare associations now threatening to descend on the streets again to press their demands.

The RWAs as well as the power consumers are agitated over the Congress Government's "indifferent attitude" and have accused it of being hand in glove with the private power distribution companies at the cost of the consumers. The Public Accounts Committee of the Delhi Assembly headed by Congress MLA S.C. Vats, had aptly highlighted this point a few months ago and had called for scrutiny of the discoms and their working.

The report had stated: "The provisions of the transfer scheme rules, policy directions, various agreements and the manner in which the discoms are reacting to the Government directions create a serious apprehension that in spite of holding 49 per cent equity it has lost control over the distribution business. No checks and balances are in place to ensure accountability of the discoms. The present nominees of the Government on the Board of Directors of the discoms do not appear to have done justice to the responsibility entrusted to them. They have failed to put across the views of the Government in issues, which were going to affect the consumers. Even in sensitive matters like replacement of mechanical meters with electronic ones, the Government nominees have miserably failed to protect the interest of consumers and have fallen in line with the discoms' model of making a fast buck.''

Similarly, the Lok Sabha's Standing Committee on Energy in its report had pointed out to forced installation of electronic meters. "The Committee is surprised to note that some of the private discoms in Delhi are replacing old meters with new ones. The mandate under the Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (APDRP) was to provide meters where these are not available and `not for replacing' the already available ones with the consumers.

The Committee, therefore, desires that the Delhi Government should examine this aspect and issue directions to avoid wasteful expenditure,'' the report stated.

All these have vindicated the stand of the RWAs and the common man that replacement of old meters was faulty and done with a certain motive in mind to which the Delhi Government also became as active party. "Instead of keeping a check on the discoms, the Government has failed to perform its role to protect the interests of the consumers and they should take moral responsibility for this,'' BJP legislator Vijay Jolly has said.

Nationalist Congress Party MLA Ramvir Bidhuri was the first to raise the matter of fast-running electronic meters in the Delhi Assembly, but it was denied by Power Minister Haroon Yusuf.

Delhi Residents' Welfare Associations' Joint Front secretary Pankaj Aggarwal said if this was the role model for power reforms in the country, then the entire reforms process would come under a cloud. "The way things are going, the Government and the regulator seem to be siding with the power companies and not consumers,'' he added.

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