The Hindu : New Delhi News : "Centre played cruel joke on Delhiites"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 22, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

"Centre played cruel joke on Delhiites"

Staff Reporter

Award to Delhi Govt. for performance on power front is a farce, says BJP leader Vijay Jolly

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader and Saket MLA Vijay Jolly on Thursday accused the UPA Government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of rubbing salt into the wounds of lakhs of power consumers by giving the second runners-up award to the Delhi Government for performance on the power front.

In a statement, Mr. Jolly said the Manmohan Singh Government at the Centre and the Sheila Dikshit Government in Delhi had played a cruel joke on the people of the Capital by giving misleading information and false certificates for performance on the power front. "The almost four years of privatisation have left lakhs of consumers at the mercy of the private power distribution companies in the Capital," he said, adding: "The Union Power Ministry has preferred to ignore the sufferings of consumers and given a blank cheque to the Delhi Government through this award.''

"At a time when the people of Delhi are reeling under constant power cuts, prolonged load shedding, inflated bills, fast running meters and indifferent discoms, this award is nothing but a farce and humiliation of those consumers who are staging a battle against the unjust and inefficient system,'' he added.

Mr. Jolly said the average cost of power procurement was Rs. 1.93 per unit and the average selling rate was Rs. 4.50, which is exorbitant and arbitrarily high. The selling rate, he said, should not exceed Rs. 2.60 paise per unit. Various residential colonies in South Delhi, East Delhi, West Delhi, Outer Delhi, Central Delhi and New Delhi frequently experience power blackouts ranging from six to 10 hours. "It is unfortunate that the Central and State Congress Governments have joined hands to mislead the people on issues that affect the day-to-day life of the citizens.''

Terming the privatisation of power as a big scandal, Mr. Jolly said all the agencies that had probed the power deal had come out with adverse findings. Be it the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) that had cast serious aspersions on the whole deal or the high-power Public Accounts Committee of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha headed by senior Congress MLA, S. C. Vats, all had pointed towards a big scam in privatisation of power, he added.

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