Chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday slammed two BSES discoms for long outages in the city and said the powercuts are taking place due to poor distribution infrastructure and not because of gap in demand and supply.
“We have made available adequate power. There is no gap in demand and supply. The powercuts are taking place in areas served by BSES discoms due to their poor distribution network,” Ms Dikshit said.
The chief minister has called a meeting with the CEO of Reliance Infrastructure which runs BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd. “Top officials of these two companies had in February told me that there will be no powercuts more than 10 minutes during the summer. But see what is happening now. We will not tolerate this,” Ms Dikshit said.
As the city has been facing powercuts ranging for up to 10 hours, Opposition BJP has been stepping up attack on Dikshit for the long outages.
The two BSES discoms supply power in 70 per cent areas in the city. Officials said no complaint of long powercuts have been reported from areas where power is supplied by Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd.
Asked about the discoms’ claim of their poor financial condition, Ms Dikshit said she was only concerned about the long powercuts and the companies will have to improve supply immediately. “I am not bothered about their financial condition. My only point is that the government will not tolerate long outages as we have adequate supply of power,” she said.
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RWAs oppose any hike in power tariff by DERC
New Delhi, June 4: Accusing the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission of siding with the private power distribution companies, various residents’ welfare associations on Tuesday warned it against effecting another increase in electricity rates.
Participating at a public hearing organised by the DERC on finalising a new tariff order for 2013-14, representatives of RWAs said that they will launch agitation if the regulator increases the tariff again.
The public hearing has been organised by the DERC to take views of the stakeholders on finalising power tariff for domestic consumers.
“There is no justification for another hike in tariff. The DERC is siding with the discoms,” alleged Rajiv Kakaria of Greater Kailash 1 RWA. He also demanded bringing the discoms under the purview of the RTI Act. The tariff was hiked by up to three per cent last month. — PTI