Meeting with Minister of Power: Consequent to the wirthdrawal of the 10% hike, People’s Action proposed to the Minister of Power that a consultative committee made up of the Minister, DISCOMS CEOs, DERC members and representation from RWAs on a rotational basis would be a necessary input in resolving the issue. The Minister’s office responded with an invitation to meet on the issue and a three-member group comprising Col. [Retd] D.K. Shandilya, Anant Trivedi, President Ishwar Nagar RWA and Mr. S.P. Gupta, Gen. Secretary, Rajendra Nagar RWA met with the Minister with an agenda. The demands included:
While the Minister of Power was generally appreciate of the points proposed particularly points 1, 2 & 4, the Secretary of Power Mr. S. Regunathan who is also the Principal Secretary came into the meeting with a distinct brief to undermine the position of the Power Minister and almost overruled him on the issue of forming a consultative committee. This has led the members who attended the meeting to believe that there were clear instructions from the CMO to ensure that there is no public partnership on the power issue.
URJA Membership and Executive Meetings: The successful response to the formation of URJA has been growing on a daily basis in addition to the founder members who voted for the creation of URJA at the IIC meeting in September. The process of formal registrations is still continuing and you are requested to please send in your registration form if it is yet to be sent. Sub-formal URJA meetings have been held by members of East and South and West and North to take things forward.
Meter testing drive by the Govt and DERC: In view of our common decision to boycott meter testing drives, it may be noted that People’s Action had written to the DERC to abandon the drive because it was serving no purpose and the people’s faith in the new electronic meters was not improving at all. The DERC drive has reportedly been abandoned since then for lack of any credible support. People’s Action has proposed to the DERC to use the Bill Comparison Forms as proof of dispute and allow consumers to pay on average basis until the dispute is settled. There are unconfirmed indications that the DERC might allow such a relief.
Satya-Agraha campaign: The campaign seeking the truth about the DVB privatisation is nearing its conclusion with a number of RWAs planning protests in different parts of the city to press for the issue of settlement of the meters issue; the high tariffs imposed on honest residents to make up for power theft in Delhi and a review of the terms of agreement of private DISCOMS to include competition in the sector. The protests are due to begin as soon as the festival season ends. Please contact the undersigned to coordinate public protests in your colony.
Corruption in the DVB privatisation deal: The truth about DVB privatisation is now becoming a shining example of corruption as more details of the case are beginning to appear in public. It is becoming clear that key individuals in powerful positions were involved in designing this one-sided agreement with a view to benefit private companies at the cost of honest consumers. Why this was done; who else benefited from such agreements; must be identified by demanding a high-level probe into the deal.
No relief from high billing: It is a fact that there has been no relief from high billings and the reason is quite simply the high tariff increases of the last three years. It is important to realise that there has been no relief from the 10% roll-back and that it is only a psychological victory - after all, waiving off what was never charged to you makes not difference to anyone, does it? The real problem is high tariffs that have been inflicted on us for being honest consumers. This must change.