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BJP rally, arrests over power crisis

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI JAN. 17. Over 5,000 Bharatiya Janata Party workers courted arrest today to protest against the serious power crisis in the Capital even as the Delhi party president, Madan Lal Khurana, who led them, accused the State Government of failing to ensure adequate supply of electricity to people and cheating them in the name of privatisation of power distribution.

The activists, who comprised Members of Parliament, Anita Arya and Lal Behari Tewari, besides 10 MLAs, 11 Municipal Councillors, three NDMC members and senior Delhi party functionaries, had gathered at Ferozeshah Kotla Ground from where they marched to the Chief Minister's office at New Secretariat defying prohibitory orders.

Holding lamps in hand and shouting slogans they accused the Sheila Dikshit Government of failing to provide basic services like water and electricity to the people and courted arrest when the I.P. Estate police prevented them from proceeding further.

Stating that Delhi had, in the last 40 years, never experienced a cold wave and power crisis like the present one, Mr Khurana said, before courting arrest, that similar rallies will be organised in all the 16 districts of Delhi during the next week to highlight the misrule of the Government and its inability to cope with the distress situation.

He accused the Delhi Government of not taking effective steps for augmenting the transmission system and creating a situation in which the Capital reeled under long and unscheduled power cuts despite the Centre providing it 150 MW of additional power.Mr Khurana also questioned the manner in which private distribution companies had been guaranteed 16 per cent returns by the Delhi Government. Stating that the government had earmarked over Rs 34 crores for the benefit of these companies, he said, the BJP would soon come out with a white paper on the scandal and call for a CBI probe.

As part of its protest programme, the BJP also issued an open protest letter to the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, which was quite similar to the resolution passed by the party at a meeting held on January 14. The letter claimed that "for the first time there is no one to listen to the grievances of the citizens of Delhi'' and the power situation was especially bad in East, Northeast, South and Outer Delhi areas. It accused the private companies of not spending on the maintenance of the systems and bringing Delhi to a situation where unscheduled cuts were running up to 10 hours at a stretch.

It noted that while the power shortfall was just 400 MW with the demand being 3200 MW against a supply of 2800 MW, the load shedding far exceeded the normal time required to cover the demand-supply gap. The protest note also accused the private companies of not making arrangements for winter between October and December when the equipment is generally checked, replaced or procured for the cold season. With prior arrangements missing, it said winter has become miserable for Delhi'ites.

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