The Hindu : New Delhi News : No power connection even after five years of application

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 24, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

No power connection even after five years of application

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Five years after having applied for an electricity connection to New Delhi Municipal Council, a flower seller who owns a shop near the Hanuman Temple near Connaught Place is still waiting for the authorities to give him a connection. The case assumes significance as it pertains to an honest man in a city where nearly 40 per cent of all power is stolen.

To Khemchandra, who has a shop at 23-C, Hanuman Mandir, the idea of having an electricity connection for operating two bulbs and a fan had seemed just right. And hoping that it would not only provide him relief from the oppressive heat but also make life easier by doing away with the need to buy LPG cylinders for burning lamps every day, the man had gone to the NDMC office and filed an application for an electricity connection.

"But that was five years ago. Since then I have been running from pillar to post to get that elusive connection,'' he says, adding that it took full four years for the NDMC to grant him a load sanction (B-11/03/D/3200-03 EE/D/N) in August 2005. Still as far as the issue of connection went there was no response from the NDMC.

Stating that in these five years he has also met numerous officials and influential people including NDMC Chairperson Sindhusree Khullar, Member of Legislative Assembly and NDMC Vice-Chairperson Tajdar Babar as also Director (Vigilance), the shopkeeper says the lower level officials have not acted on the assurances given by these people.

He says the executive engineer concerned had been pestering him to deposit a sum of Rs 7,000 instead with the market union if he wanted to have an electricity connection.

Stating that this was grossly unjust as he had nothing to do with the union as far as power sharing was concerned, the flower-seller says since he is poor and cannot match the opulence and style of other rich shopkeepers who use several times more power than him, he should be given a separate power connection as per his need.

As he has been using the LPG lamp all this while and is yet to be granted a connection, Khemchand says the NDMC officials are just trying to extort money from him on one premise or the other while dilly-dallying on the core issue of giving him an electricity connection.

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