Delhi Congress workers, under the leadership of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President Shri Devender Yadav, hold Delhi-wide protests against power surcharge hike by DISCOMs in the name of PPAC tariff increase—Devender Yadav

 Kejriwal promised power at half the rate, but doubled it in the past 10 years through backdoor to fleece the power consumers—Devender Yadav

 

NEW DELHI, July 17, 2024—Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Shri Devender Yadav, addressing a large number of Congress workers and general public outside the Mandi House Metro Station, said that the Kejriwal Government, which had promised to supply power at half the rate, had doubled it in the past ten years through backdoor measures to fleece the power consumers by allowing the DISCOMs to make over 9 per cent hike in the PPAC (Power Purchase Adjustment Charge) tariff, and yet claiming innocence to mislead the public, by giving the illogical argument that “there has been no hike in the electricity rates for households, but  a few additional charges have been levied to the electricity bill  charged from the consumers”. Shri Devender Yadav said that the extent of loot by the Kejriwal Government was clear  from the fact that from 2015 to 2021, the power consumers were given Rs 11743 crore subsidy while Rs 37007 crore were looted from them in the guise of various surcharges charges. 

 

 Shri Devender Yadav said that during the Congress regime, average per unit rate was around Rs 5, which has now gone up to Rs 10 per unit, though the rate should have been Rs 2.50 if Kejriwal had fulfilled his promise of giving power at half the rate. He said that this sharp increase in the power tariff has put heavy financial burden on shopkeepers, small and medium industrial units and common households.

 

Congress workers, under the leadership of Shri Devender Yadav,  held protest demonstrations at over 55 venues across Delhi, organised by District Congress Committees, against this anti-people move by the Kejriwal Government, which was imposing additional financial burden on the people, already in dire straits due to inflated power bills, as the private power distribution companies have been sending arbitrary, exorbitant power bills to the consumers without any checks and balance, to rob their pockets.

 

Thousands of Congress workers and common people joined the protest demonstrations everywhere as they have now realized that Kejriwal’s promise of “free power and water” was a white lie to get their votes.

 

Besides Shri Devender Yadav, prominent others who participated in the demonstrations were Chairman of the Communications Department and ex-MLA Shri Anil Bhardwaj, ex-MLA Kunwar Karan Singh, AICC Secretary Rohit Choudhary, Virender Kasana, Ranvijay Singh, Subham Sharma, Sidharth Rao, Jatin Sharma, Romesh Sabbarwal and Dr. Naresh Kumar. Jagjeevan Sharma, Mahmood Zia, Darshna Ramkumar, Sushila Khorwal, Naresh Sharma Neetu and Pooja Dhanak.

 

Shri Devender Yadav said that the Kejriwal Government has been allowing the power companies to quietly hike PPAC surcharge by 6 to 10 per cent every year to put additional financial burden on the electricity consumers for the past 10 years. He said that the kind of loot the DISCOMs have been making for the past 10 years with the collusion of the Kejriwal Government was clearly evident from the fact that in 2015, the PPAC surcharge was a mere 1.7 per cent, which rose in the subsequent years  to 8.7 per cent and now 9 per cent. He said that it was shocking that locked houses, shops and business establishments were also getting bills for the power they never consumed.

 

Shri Devender Yadav said that the Congress Government, during its 15 year tenure,  made nominal power hikes  only four times, but under the Kejriwal Government, the DISCOMs were given a free hand to increase  the power tariff in the name of  PPAC surcharge, which has put an unbearable financial burden on the power consumers. He said that the Kejriwal Government also betrayed the power consumers by charging the pension fund and PPAC tariff hike from the public, though the Congress Government had put the responsibility of the distribution of pension to the employees on the DISCOMs and the DERC (Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission), which had been overturned by the Kejriwal Government to foster corruption.

 

Shri Devender Yadav said that Delhi Congress has will fight to protect the interest of the power consumers as Congress has always supported whenever people were burdened and harassed by the AAP and BJP Governments, who find no time to address the people’s problems, but waste time in blame games and accusing each other for their own governance failures.