Kejriwal asks people not to pay inflated bills

March 25, 2013 12:04 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 10:10 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

On the second day of his indefinite fast against inflated power bills, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday made the electoral aspect of his campaign clear by stating that he had launched his ‘civil disobedience movement’ from Nand Nagri, a low-income group resettlement colony in North-East Delhi, because politics begins from the ground.

“On day one itself 36,743 citizens of Delhi had signed the letter to Sheila Dikshit that they would not pay the inflated water and electricity bills. Today, AAP volunteers went house to house and thousands more are signing and readily joining the civil disobedience movement,” said an AAP statement issued on Sunday.

The party also claimed to have received support from a section of engineers of power boards.

While starting his “civil disobedience” movement, as he put it, Mr. Kejriwal urged the residents of the National Capital not to pay their power bills.

‘Govt. hand-in-glove with discoms’

Mr. Kejriwal also termed as a ‘hoax’ the claim of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit that discoms had incurred loss worth thousands of crores. He said the poblem was that for the Government the interest of common public was not the priority because it was hand-in-glove with the power companies. “The increase in the tariffs of electricity and water was due to corruption and the documents have already been presented in the public domain, which prove corrupt practices. Sheila Dikshit has nexus with electricity and water companies and it has been proved earlier also in front of the public,” he said.

While emphasising the purpose of his fast, he said he wanted people to come together against the corrupt practices of the Delhi Government. Invoking Mahatma Gandhi’s struggle against the British colonial rulers of India, Mr. Kejriwal said that his struggle was also aimed at uniting the citizens of Delhi against the anti-people policies of the Government.

In an attempt to gauge people’s mood towards his campaign, Mr. Kejriwal also declared, “When I will see a significant number of people not paying their water and electricity tariffs, I will call off the indefinite fast.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.