In a stern warning, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday gave deadline of one week to private power distribution companies to address the problem of outages, saying the government will not hesitate to cancel their licenses if they fail to comply with the directive.
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“We have directed the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) that if any area has unscheduled power cuts and it is not rectified in two hours, then the people of that area have to be compensated”.
Areas like Okhla, Lodhi Colony, Bhogal, Nizamuddin, Jangpura Extension, Masjid Moth, Malviya Nagaar, Kalkaji and parts of Lajpat Nagar and South Extension, faced power cuts in the range of 2 to 5 hours making life hard for the residents in the blistering heat.
“Power discoms will be issued a show cause and will be penalised if the power cut exceeds two hours” Kejriwal said.
The CM has reportedly called city’s three discoms-BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna and Tata Power – for a meeting on Tuesday as complaints of outages poured in from across the Capital, which is in the grip of a severe heat wave.
Arun Kumar Verma, Managing Director of DHBVN said: “We have been making an effort to bring down the power cuts.
He should use his stick on government officials on Discom Boards and his Power Minister who have all connived with private companies that are short-purchasing power and resorting to power cuts”, Upadhyay alleged. “This policy will be implemented soon so that their accountability is fixed”, Kejriwal told reporters.
The city’s power demand has been soaring along with the temperature, touching an all-time high of 6,188MW on Friday.
Despite being a Saturday, when many offices and other establishments remained closed, power demand peaked at 5,833 MW around 2.39 PM today, according to the State Load Despatch Centre.
“Even if the power demand goes up to 7,000 megawatt, we have made arrangements”. We have asked them to form quick response teams.
Several areas in West and East Delhi too faced long power cuts.
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Jain said, “it seems they have not invested adequately otherwise what explains these local faults?”
