BJP accuses Sheila Dikshit of siding with discoms

The BJP today accused chief minister Sheila Dikshit of siding with discoms in their demand for hike in power tariff and said power regulator DERC should be allowed to immediately announce the new rates for 2010-11.

In an unusual move, the city government had on May 4, a day before the scheduled announcement of the tariff order, directed Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission not to announce it till the regulator gets a go-ahead from the state authorities.

"The government directed the DERC not to announce the tariff order as the independent body was planning to cut down the tariff by 20%. The intervention was totally unconstitutional," newly-appointed Delhi BJP chief Vijendra Gupta told reporters.

The government intervention had come after Tata-backed discom NDPL and Reliance Infrastructure-backed discom BSES pleaded with the government that their demand for increasing power tariff has not been considered by the regulator while finalising the new tariff structure.

"The chief minister is more concerned about financial position of Tatas and Reliance than that of the common man," Gupta alleged.

The BJP leader also demanded immediate announcement of
the tariff order as decided by the regulator earlier.

The DERC, which was making last minute preparations to announce the new tariff for the year 2010-11, after receiving the government directive had indicated that it had planned to cut down the tariff by 20 to 25% as discoms would have a surplus of around Rs 4,000 crore if the existing tariff was not tinkered with.

In an embarrassment for the government, solicitor general Gopal Subramanium has held that it has no powers to restrict the DERC from announcing its tariff order.