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Delhi govt. will continue to provide power subsidies to consumers irrespective of their sanctioned load, Power Minister Atishi said on Monday.
| Photo Credit: File Photo
Power Minister Atishi on Monday said the Delhi government will continue to provide the existing electricity subsidies, irrespective of the consumers’ sanctioned load. She also dismissed reports that power subsidies would be given only to consumers whose connections were within the sanctioned load of 3KW.
“Our policy remains the same — 24 hours of free electricity (to eligible consumers). However, the L-G office is deliberately spreading misinformation regarding it,” Ms. Atishi said.
The Minister said the Capital’s power regulator, Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC), had issued statutory advice to the Delhi government in 2020, asking it to consider restricting electricity subsidies. However, the power regulator withdrew the advisory on January 6 this year, saying the issue of electricity subsidies fell outside its domain.
Raj Niwas sources on Friday said that Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena has asked the Chief Secretary to direct the Power Department to place DERC’s suggestion on limiting the subsidy before the Council of Ministers and take a decision within 15 days.
‘Matter of record’
The Minister said that DERC had itself “clarified that its previous statutory advice stands null and void as of date”.
“All these documents are on record. If we are aware of it, so would the Delhi L-G. Then why did the L-G ask the government officials to alter the subsidy policy when he already knew that the [power regulator’s] advice was legally incorrect?” said Ms. Atishi.
She accused the L-G of acting at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discontinue the subsidy. “In these days of rising inflation, the power subsidy has provided a huge relief to the common person. The working and middle classes are grateful to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for it,” said the Minister, adding that the Kejriwal government is committed to providing the subsidy.
“It is clear that the L-G wants to impede the functioning of the government by hook or by crook and is acting with malice,” she added.
When contacted, the L-G office did not respond to the Power Minister’s allegations.
However, a source at Raj Niwas said that Mr. Saxena had never suggested or asked the AAP government to withdraw any subsidy. “He has repeatedly asked for subsidies to be given to the poor who are deserving, rather than to private power companies. It will be better if the Delhi government stops misleading people [by hiding] behind the fig leaves provided by the withdrawn DERC orders,” the source said.
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