Newsletter dated 9th December  2007: for distribution to all Delhi RWA Chiefs

Protest at CM’s Residence against Blueline deaths Members of People’s Action and RWAs participated in a flash protest at the CM’s residence to protest the shocking death of eight people and the injury to another six at Badarpur by a Blueline bus. This action was a reminder to the administration that in spite of our protests in July end and August on the same issue, nothing at all had been done to protect the lives of ordinary commuters. The protest received impressive media attention and the CM received a lot of criticism over her casual and insensitive statements such as ‘walk carefully’ when residents were mourning the death of their loved ones. Some grieving members of victims families were also present at the protest. However, the CM avoided meeting the protesters and escaped from the back gate of her residence.

Formation of the Blueline Victims Association and legal action.: People’s Action President, Sanjay Kaul backed by URJA functionaries and protestors held a Press Conference at CM’s residence where he declared that the group would support the formation of  a Blueline Victims Association to help the families of the growing number of victims to fight back and get the compensation they deserve. The Association would also help the families get over the trauma of losing their loved ones, who in many cases were the only bread winners for the families. In continuation of the same, at a formal meeting with the families of the victims at Chelmsford Club on the 17th of October, the Blueline Victims Association was formed with seven members as office bearers. The members have since then also protested at the LG’s residence to press for their demands for a change in the transport policy, acceptance of the 5-point reform model of People’s Action and for compensation to the families of the victims. Advocate Jasbir Malik has been requested by People’s Action to file a writ in the Honb’le High Court on the same issue. The Court has issued notices to the Delhi Government based on our petition. The case has now been referred to 24th Dec for hearing.

Meeting of URJA members with Ashok Gehlot on Blueline issue: The incident got the attention of the Congress High Command which convened a meeting for members of URJA in the evening with AICC member Ashok Gehlot who is in charge of Delhi. Members pressed for the dismissal of the Transport Minister at the meeting and reminded mr gehlot that over 400 people had died due to Blueline and DTC buses and the responsibility of these lied with the State Government. Mr. Gehlot, as expected, continued to offer excuses but it was learnt that the CM was summoned the next day to 10 Janpath, as reported by TV channels on this issue. The delegation to see Mr Gehlot was led by Major [retd] Rohit Sethi, [URJA West Patel Nagar] included Yatindra Seth [URJA Central - Karol Bagh], Anil Thakur [URJA East – Gandhi Nagar] and other members of URJA and People’s Action.

RWAs protest on HCBS corridor development: RWAs of South Delhi have rejected comprehensively the concept behind creation of the HCBS line running from Ambedkar Nagar to ISBT as a “imbalanced, incompetent and unsustainable” plan. The biggest criticism has been reserved for the IIT based group of planners who seem to have patched up a number of international proposals to create this monstrosity which is based on the strange premise that more people will use cycles and buses after the HCBS is ready. The plan also suffers form an unnatural bias against middle class vehicle users as frequently quoted by IIT professor Dinesh Mohan and Geetam Tiwari who have made their contempt for car owners quite apparent. It is unfortunate that one of the country’s premier institutions has had to suffer this loss of prestige on account of a few mixed up professors who have no accountability towards the project except borrowing from various other countries and project to piece together this unviable means of transport which is completely out of touch with reality. It is another matter that a confused government does not know what to do with the project now.

Meeting with Power Minister on power theft issue: Mr. Sanjay Kaul, Presdient People’s Action was invited by Power Minister Dr. A.K. Walia on taking over the new ministry with a view to understanding consumer complaints. Mr. Kaul was accompanied by a delegation of URJA members from different RWAs across the city. Issues that were discussed included many theft cases being registered against consumers and used to harass innocent users. A Power Point presentation was handed over to Dr. walia documenting how a consumer in Shahdara was falsely implicated, threatened and made to cough up a bribe. In effect the Minister accepted that the theft cases were being misused by DISCOMS and he promised to offer a scheme to provide relief to such customers that had been falsely implicated. This was later actualized by him as the Amnesty Scheme you saw advertised in the papers. Other issues that came up were gross violation of the consumer code and protection, large scale irregularities and
malpractices by DISCOMS. It was suggested by members to Dr. Walia that an independent audit of the DISCOMS was the only solution to the problem. Members of the delegation included, Mr Anil Bajpayi and Manoj Sharma [URJA East - Gandhinagar & Shahdara] Mr. R.C. Kamboj [URJA Rohini], N.N. Mishra [URJA East - Mayur Vihar] Mr. D.M. Narang [URJA Centra – New Rajendra Nagar], Mr Vijay Raghavan [URJA South – Mehrauli] Mr. Shyam Singh & Mr O.P. Bhardwaj [URJA South - South Extn. & Kotla] and Mr. Atul Goyal [URJA Central- Karol Bagh]

Power Tariff reduction, Multi Year Tariffs and DERC Objections: URJA has argued that in view of the theft reductions claimed by DISCOMS, consumers were expectant of a major reduction in power tariff in the coming years. The pressure has worked insofar that there has been no declaration of tariff hike so far since our agitation of 2005 against tariff hike. However, the new bogey of Multi-Year Tariff [MYT] must be resisted as this has been proposed to counter yearly opposition by consumers to such arbitrary hikes. Our contention remains the same – how can the DERC hike tariffs based on ARRs  which are nothing but jugglery with accounts and figures? There are a hundred qualified ways in which DISCOMS have manipulated figures. Has the DERC conducted an impartial audit to ascertain if the expenses claimed by DISCOMS are genuine or not? Please remember, the MYT is a methodology to make you pay to the tune of average 29% higher tariff over the next four years! . Mr. Sanjay Kaul, President, People’s Action has made an impassioned appeal to everybody on this count saying,  “Unless there is an independent audit first that ascertains how much has been spent, how much earned and how much diverted by such companies, we cannot accept the increase of even 10 paise in tariff”. URJA members have been urged to file objections to public consultations invited by DERC and must be present in large numbers on the day of the public meeting to resist this. A proforma is attached for RWAs to file objections on their letterheads and Speed Post it to reach DERC before 20th December, 2007 with a copy to URJA.

Second Meeting with Power Minister on Audit : A second meeting with the Power Minister on 29th October was held to press for setting up an independent audit of DISCOMS performance, assets and investments in infrastructure etc. The delegation was led by Mr. Sanjay Kaul, President People’s Action and he was accompanied by Mr Naresh Ummat [URJA West - Naraina Vihar], Mr Sushil Kumar [URJA Dwarka], Mr D.K. Khanna [URJA Rohini], Mr. Varinder Arora [URJA East], Mr. S.P. Gupta and Arvind Mehta [URJA Central - Rajendra Nagar] and Mr Atul Goyal [URJA Central - Karol Bagh]. The meeting centered around the many malpractices indulged in by DISCOMS particularly BSES and the fact that consumers had no recourse to relief except the DISCOM set up redressal cells. The DERC came under attack from most members for failing to protect the interests of the consumers and that is why the collective opinion within URJA was in support of setting up an independent committee to audit the DISCOMS performance over the last five years in all its aspects.

Yamuna campaign: URJA has taken a stand on the Yamuna issue with regard to construction of Commonwealth games village on the Yamuna flood plains. To this effect, URJA and People’s Action members have joined delegations to the CM, the Minister of UD and the LG. In a recent meeting with the LG, members have protested the manner in which the entire exercise has become a method for the real estate lobby to take over a national resource such as a flood plain. Activists have argued that this will permanently alter the course of the river apart from creating serious environmental impact. People’s Action has also become party to a petition filed before the HC along with prominent activists such as Magsaysay Awardee, Rajendra Singh, Manoj Mishra of YJA, and INTACH.

Update on Resident Ward Committees: Our efforts to push the members of the newly constituted MCD to accept the proposal of formation of resident ward Committees is proving to be a tough challenge, as expected, since no body wants accountability, but we are determined to push through this proposal because it is only within this practice that a practical and positive developmental agenda can be set for every ward. Councillors will soon realize that the RWC will enhance their effectiveness within their own wards and will eventually come around to supporting this model. We will be meeting the MCD top brass again next month and hope to report progress on this issue.

Formalisation of URJA Zonal Committees and Meeting of 13th November: A meeting of active members of URJA, many of whom have been nominated for the URJA Zonal Committees was organized in November at Chelmsford Club to discuss issues of critical administrative importance to URJA and People’s Action. The meeting was held under the stewardship of Mr. Sanjay Kaul, and he has outlined the agenda of the meeting along with the outcome in a separate letter in this post. Please refer to the letter for more information. In the meantime, if there are any members who would like be part of the zonal committees, you can please contact any of the undersigned or write and inform us separately. A group picture of the members who joined is also attached for your reference. A Color photo is enclosed only for those who attended.