The Delhi Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) today lambasted Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for her blatant lies regarding Delhi having one of the cheapest electricity tariffs in the country and released a comparative data exposing her fake claims. Cautioning people against being taken for a ride by Dikshit’s lies, Delhi BJP President Shri Vijay Goel stated that Delhi government has always been working in connivance with the Distribution Companies (DISCOMS) and helping them fill their coffers with anti-people policies.
Reacting to Dikshit’s claim that Delhi has one of the cheapest power tariffs in comparison to other metros and states, Shri Goel said that nothing can be far from truth. A comparative analysis of tariffs of Maharashtra, AP, Haryana, Chattisgarh shows that the tariffs are quite less compared to Delhi. “It is deplorable that the Chief Minister is fabricating the truth. Nothing can be far from the truth Not only does various states and cities have less power tariffs than Delhi but they also give more opportunities of lower slabs to its poors. While in Delhi the lowest available slab is 0-200 units, states like Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Chattisgarh gives their people option of cheaper electricity at lower slabs like 0-30, 0-100 etc.” said Shri Goel adding that more than 22 lakh families have been hit by the recent power tariff hike. In fact, the economically weaker sections should be given cheaper electricity under more slabs like 0-100 and 100-150 units.
Regarding Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission's (DERC) recent statement suggesting audit of DISCOMS by CAG, Shri Goel said the BJP has been demanding the same for quite sometime and the DERC's statement endorse BJP's stand. However, it is unlikely that this audit will happen under the rule of Congress government.
Shri Goel pointed out that earlier attempts for CAG audit were scuttled by the Congress government in Delhi. He said, "Despite telling the High Court that Delhi Cabinet has decided to (of December 27, 2011) to approve audit of these companies by CAG, it has not even sent a formal request in this regard to the Lieutenant Governor till date. "
A case demanding the audit of these companies was filed in the court and when Court asked the Delhi government about this, it informed that Cabinet has given its approval. However, despite more than 18 months, this government did not get inform LG about it. It refused to begin the formal proceedings in this regards. That exposes the doublespeak of Congress government.