The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Centre, the Delhi government and Tata Power to respond to a petition seeking electricity connection for nearly 800 Hindu migrants from Pakistan who are currently living in Delhi Jal Board Maidan in north Delhi’s Adarsh Nagar.
The petition, filed by Hariom who works for the welfare of ‘minority migrants’ from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in India, said the migrants, mostly from Sindh region, have been living without electricity for the last few years.
Dreams shattered
“Migrants who have come to India from Pakistan on account of their religious persecution believed that coming to India will give their children a bright and safe future but their present existence without electricity in the slum has shattered all their dreams of meaningful existence,” the petition said.
“During the pandemic when all schools have gone online, there is no electricity in the jhuggis [slums] and future of their children is in dark,” the plea, filed through advocates Samiksha Mittal, Akash Vajpai and Ayush Saxena, said.
No use of Aadhaar
The petition said most of the migrants are living on long-term visa and they have Aadhaar card with the same address on which they are currently living to validate their occupancy. However, as per the electricity distribution companies, Aadhaar can be used as an identity proof but not as a proof of occupancy of the premises, it said.
The plea sought direction for providing electricity connection to the migrants on the basis of their Aadhaar card, long-term visa and passport under the DERC (Supply Code and Performance Standards) Regulations, 2017.
