NEW DELHI: The seven-day budget session of Delhi assembly, starting on June 23 and ending on June 30, is likely to be a heated one over power cuts and tariff hike. In a first, setting the tone for the session, the petitions committee of Delhi legislative assembly has turned watchdog on power-related issues based on public complaints.
Last week, the nine-member committee chaired by deputy speaker Bandana Kumari held a meeting with DERC chairperson PD Sudhakar, power secretary Shakuntala D Gamlin and senior discom officials. The meeting was called after several petitions were received from power consumers in different constituencies. While power cuts and load-shedding were a key concern, the committee decided that a meeting will be held every month till the situation improves.
Kumari told that the discoms have assured that the problems will be addressed at the earliest. “We have given them time till July 1 to return with a plan and tell us about the measures taken by them on the issues raised at the meeting,” she said.
Seemapuri MLA Rajendra Gautam, a member of the petitions committee, said that the discoms were told about many places, particularly where the poor live, witnessing prolonged power cuts. “The power firms were told to lay out a load-shedding schedule and give it to the area MLA to ensure that there was no unnecessary victimization of people of certain areas vis-a-vis others,” he said.
The MLA also told that a relief scheme will be brought to resolve and put an end to inflated pending bills and theft cases where people may have been falsely implicated. The discoms were asked to work urgently on this to prevent harassment of the public.
Members of the committee also sought a plan to deal with the issue of jhuggi dwellers being denied electricity connections due to lack of residential proof. “To prevent such people from being denied a connection, discoms have been asked to prepare a roadmap so that such consumers can draw power legally,” Gautam added.
The AAP government seems to be clearly focused on giving legislative committees a prime role and the petitions committee has been showing the way for now. The committee receives petitions from the public which may be signed or countersigned by the area MLA. It has the power to study the petitions and then refer them for action or seek action by holding meetings and also follow-up on action taken.
