Angry protests over power, water woes in Delhi

Amid growing criticism over the handling of Delhi's electricity woes, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has called a meeting of top officials to discuss the power situation in the city.

The protests for water and electricity turned violent in Sangam Vihar for the second time in four days when a large number of people protested in front of Delhi Jal Board office.

Police had to use force to disperse the crowd which damaged around four buses. Locals claimed 10-12 people were injured in the clash with police but officials maintained that only one or two may be injured.

In Lado Sarai, a group of people barged into the BSES office. The broke open the lock of the office but did not ransack it, police said. Protests were witnessed in Dilshad Garden too.

The national capital has been witnessing protests against power cuts and water shortage for the past few days.

Sources in the Power Department said the Delhi government has requested the Union Power Ministry to allocate more power to the city to meet with the growing demand, which had reached an all-time high of 4275 MW yesterday.

The situation will substantially improve by tomorrow as Delhi is expected to get 250 MW more power from either Uttarakhand or from southern states, sources said.

Power cuts were witnessed for different periods in several areas of the national capital, including Lajpat Nagar, Safdarjung, Gulmohar Park, Laxmi Nagar, Priyadarshini Vihar, Mayur Vihar, Dwarka, Dilshad Garden, Naraina and Patparganj.

"The situation is very bad. Even the helplines are of no use. We have to try for 25-30 minutes to get connected to the helpline," Santhosh Kumar, a resident of Dwarka, said.
Yesterday, protestors targeted a discom office in Laxmi Nagar while Delhi Finance Minister A K Walia had to face the ire of citizens in the wee hours of the day with a large number of people gathering near his house to protest against power cuts in the area.

The protestors also blocked the busy Vikas Marg at around 12:30 am and burnt tyres.

Delhi government has issued an advisory to the private discoms asking them to strictly comply with its directive to publish the schedule of power cuts.

In the advisory, the government asked the discoms to buy at least 250 MW of power daily from the power exchanges to meet the shortfall.

The discoms were also told to employ enough manpower at complaint registration centres so that the grievances of citizens could be addressed.