Cong warns power regulator against hike, threatens sit-in

Delhi Congress leaders on Thursday met Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chief P D Sudhakar against hike in power tariff. The leaders warned Sudhakar of a massive campaign and gherao of the DERC building if he allows power discoms to hike the power tariff.

The delegation was led by Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely and former power minister Haroon Yusuf, former education minister Kiran Walia, former MLA Mukesh Sharma and former health minister A K Walia also joined it. Yusuf objected to power companies’ demands for a steep hike in the tariff.

“We will not allow the DERC to revise and hike the power tariff. The power companies are continuously demanding a hike but we are against it,” he said. Mukesh Sharma requested Sudhakar to avert several hours long power cuts in many areas of Delhi.

“Without any reason, the power discoms are resorting power cuts in unauthorised colonies and villages of Delhi. This is not a season when power companies face electricity crisis. We have requested the DERC chief to look in to the matter and stop unnecessary outages in the city,” Sharma said.

Former MLA A K Walia, who was defeated in last Assembly elections by former Aam Aadmi Party MLA Vinod Kumar Binny, accused the AAP and the BJP for misleading people through their statements.

“Congress is the only party which is serious about issues of power and water tariff. The other parties are only misleading people,” he said. Lovely warned DERC of a massive protest if it allows the discoms to hike the existing power tariffs.

“We will gherao the DERC building and launch a massive campaign if the rates were hiked,” he said. Ex-CM Arvind Kejriwal had slashed the tariff to 50 per cent in two slabs — 0-200 units and 201-400 units.