Atishi Marlena and Virendra Sachdeva
– Photo : Agency (File Photo)
Expansion
Difficulties may also increase on the electricity subsidy front of the Delhi government, badly embroiled in the liquor scam. The Arvind Kejriwal government has decided to get the electricity companies of Delhi audited through a private company. But BJP has alleged that this is an attempt to hide corruption as this audit firm will be paid through the government only, so the truth of the matter will not come out. The party has demanded the matter of electricity subsidy to be taken up with the CAG.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said in a press conference on Wednesday that the decision of the Delhi government to get the power subsidy given to power discoms audited by a private company is a big hoax. He said that till now the Kejriwal government has been giving power subsidy money to the power discoms without any audit mechanism. Delhi government and private companies are equal partners in this power discom.
The BJP leader alleges that Aam Aadmi Party leaders have been appointed in the Discom Board. In such a situation, it can be assumed that the payment made in the form of subsidy comes back to Aam Aadmi Party through another route. Citing the liquor scam, the BJP said that with the help of the same model, the amount of electricity subsidy has also been sent to the party through corrupt channels. Sachdeva said that the auditors would be paid from the coffers of the power discoms or the Delhi government, then how to expect correct reports. Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena is reportedly not agreeing to the Delhi government’s decision to get the audit done by a private company, even after allowing it.
It is important to note that in this case seven years ago the Delhi High Court had ordered that audit of power companies cannot be done. After this, the government had moved the Supreme Court. But there has been no progress on this matter so far. BJP leader Ramveer Bidhuri said that Section 108 of the Electricity Act 2003 should have been invoked to conduct audit of power companies. This would have made it mandatory to conduct an audit. But the government has not implemented that section till date.
He said that in 2003, when electricity was privatised, the theft of electricity in Delhi used to be more than 60 per cent. Now this rate has come down to 7-8 per cent only. In this way, the benefit of stopping power theft should have been extended to the public. But at present the cost of domestic electricity reaches up to Rs 8.50 per unit and the commercial rate reaches up to Rs 18 per unit. He said that if the benefit of preventing power theft had reached the masses, electricity would have become much cheaper in Delhi.
The Delhi government had to take Rs 21,250 crore from Reliance’s power companies BRPL and BYPL, but it is alleged that the government settled for Rs 11,550 crore only. Bidhuri alleged that the power companies were allowed to collect 18 per cent from the public in the form of LPS (Late Payment Surcharge), but the government decided to collect only 12 per cent late payment surcharge on the dues from these power companies.
