The Hindu : New Delhi News : RWAs to petition Kalam, Manmohan for CBI probe

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Sunday, Sep 10, 2006
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RWAs to petition Kalam, Manmohan for CBI probe

Staff Reporter

Aggrieved Delhi residents file complaints with "Bijli Adalat''

Film actor Roshan Seth (left) along with Justice Abdul Sattar Qureshi, former Judge of the Gujarat High Court, presiding over the `Bijli Adalat' organised by People's Action Group in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: It was a gathering of aggrieved Delhi residents, power consumers, advocates, technocrats and Right to Information experts apart from some political representatives that had gathered to file complaints with a "Bijli Adalat'' presided over by Justice Abdul Sattar Qureshi. At the end of the day it was decided to petition President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a CBI probe into the whole affair of power privatisation in the Capital.

Organised by People's Action group and United Residents Joint Action (URJA) at Jantar Mantar, the public hearing witnessed residents and consumers coming forward to file evidence and complaints against the private distribution companies, the Delhi Government and the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission that they alleged had joined hands to fleece the common man.

The residents accused the private companies of conniving with the Delhi Government and the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission to forcibly install fast running electronic metres at the premises of the consumers and then impose a financial burden on them by sending highly inflated bills. They were agitated with the DERC for having failed to rein in the discoms and acting like a rubber stamp instead by succumbing to their unjustified demands.

Prominent among those who attended the public hearing were eminent actor and theatre personality Roshan Seth and Chairman of the Petition's Committee of Delhi Assembly S.C. Vats. Justice Qureshi, former Judge of the Gujarat High Court and member of the Minority Commission, presided over the Adalat.

"The `Bijli Adalat' is an attempt to collate the growing evidence of misappropriation in the power privatisation deal and the attendant problems which will become a matter for public interest litigants as well as an exhibition of the extent of corruption and malpractices in the contract and operation of the discoms,'' said People's Action president Sanjay Kaul.

He said the Adalat was designed to allow classification of complaints in sectoral terms. The group had set up different stalls for each kind of complaint such as over-billing, harassment, meter replacements, fast running meters, billing errors, poor power supply, bad condition of transformers, poor lighting of colonies, power cuts and behaviour of service contractors. Advocates were also present to facilitate classification of cases and scrutiny for compiling a casebook on the issue.

Dr. Vats said he was amazed by the pubic response that indicated that everything was not all right with the privatisation of power in the Capital and the entire issue needed to be looked into with complete seriousness. Author of the Public Accounts Committee report on corruption in privatisation, Dr. Vats said it was time that DERC not only acted in the interest of the consumers but also reprimanded the discoms for their indifferent attitude.

"We will file this compendium with Dr. Kalam and Dr. Singh to bring to their attention the widespread disenchantment with the power privatisation in Delhi and to ask for a CBI enquiry into the now infamous DVB deal,'' Mr. Kaul added.

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