JOIN USFacing flak for asking Delhiites to cut down power consumption if they could not afford to pay the bills, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday retracted from her statement, saying she was “misunderstood.”
She said her comments were taken out of context. “I have been misunderstood. My comments were wrongly interpreted. Maybe I had used the wrong words, but I was only talking about the need to save power because of its shortage and high production cost,” said Dikshit at a public meeting in Aya Nagar in south Delhi.
On Sunday, Dikshit reportedly asked the people to cut down power consumption if they could not afford the high electricity tariff. “We have been supplying 24-hour power. So when you consume electricity for 24 hours, then you do not pay for five hours.
It is advisable that if you cannot afford the electricity bill, then cut down your consumption. Instead of two coolers, use one. Instead of four bulbs, use two,” Dikshit said at a function on Sunday, drawing criticism from opposition parties.
Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, said instead of giving advice to Delhiites to consume less electricity, she should concentrate on reducing tariff.
“The chief minister has always been in connivance with power distribution companies and more worried about their profits than the common man. If this is not so, she would not have given a bailout package twice a year amounting to Rs 500 crore and 545 crore to discoms,” said Malhotra.
He said the bailout package was given from the government treasury and it will ultimately be collected by imposing taxes on the common man.
Malhotra also demanded that accounts of the discoms be audited by the CAG.