By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday said it will hold public meetings at prominent places in the city June 14 to protest the Delhi government for helping power companies in their demand for hike in power tariff.
The party said “Janpanchayats” will be held at 15 prominent places in Delhi and a BJP delegation will also meet Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna the next day on the issue.
“The government has not withdrawn its letter May 4 directing the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) not to decrease power tariff. Why the chief minister is acting like a chief executive officer of the power companies?” BJP leaders Vijendra Gupta and Vijay Kumar Malhotra said in a joint statement.
A day before the scheduled announcement of the new reduced tariff, the government directed the DERC to withhold the order till it gave the regulator the go-ahead. The DERC had said there was a need to reduce tariff rates in the capital.
The three power companies – BSES Yamuna, BSES Rajdhani and North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL) – have been asking for hike in power tariff in the capital, saying they are running into a combined loss of Rs.2,600 crore.
The two leaders said the party will continue to fight for the common man until the power tariff for the current year is reduced by 20 percent.
“We will not allow the government and the power companies to blackmail the people of Delhi on the ground that holding of Commonwealth Games depends on the ability of the discoms to purchase power for the city,” they added.