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Govt. summons discoms' heads

Sujay Mehdudia

Enraged over massive power cuts and load shedding in the Capital

NEW DELHI: Almost the entire Delhi Cabinet on Monday "rebelled" in protest against the poor power situation in the Capital and failure of the private power distribution companies to manage their affairs leading to massive power cuts and load shedding. Enraged over the deteriorating situation, the Cabinet summoned Reliance Energy Chairman Anil Ambani and also the Tata Power Chairman to explain their position.

Highly placed sources said that the stringent direction to summon the top executives of the three private power companies came from Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit after all the Ministers complained about the poor power situation and "indifferent attitude" of the power companies.

Sensing the mood of her ministerial colleagues, Ms. Dikshit immediately directed Chief Secretary R. Narayanswami and Principal Secretary (Power) Rakesh Mehta to summon Mr. Ambani and the Tata Power Chairman to give a detailed explanation and take note of the strong annoyance of the Cabinet over their poor performance.

Sources said the ministerial outburst came up after the Cabinet had cleared all the items on the agenda and was about to disperse for the day. At this juncture, Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely reportedly asked Mr. Mehta about the power situation.

The Education Minister pointed out that the situation was very bad and people were being forced to endure power cuts ranging between six hours and 10 ten hours. At this, Mr. Mehta replied that the power companies were undertaking power cuts in theft-prone areas and the honest consumers were not being penalised. Mr. Lovely retorted that the private companies were handed over the power sector with the sole aim of reducing power thefts and they had failed miserably in this endeavour and were now penalising innocent consumers.

Development Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan then joined Mr. Lovely in accusing the power companies of indulging in open loot of the consumers and not being accountable for their poor performance.

This led to a spate of accusations from Finance Minister A.K. Walia and even Power Minister Haroon Yusuf who said it was becoming difficult to provide excuses to the people about the poor power position. Health Minister Yoganand Shastri and Industry Minister Mangat Ram Singhal also joined in and complained that the situation was very bad and remedial steps needed to be taken. They said the poor power situation was spoiling the image of the Delhi Government.

The Ministers complained that despite having taken control of the power sector more than four years ago the private companies had failed to ensure 100 per cent metering in the Capital.

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