Discoms asked to cut down wasteful expenditure

Criticising wasteful expenditure, Delhi Power Minister Satyendra Jain on Friday asked discoms to cut down electricity rates, which were affecting poor people.

Inaugurating BSES Yamuna Power’s 33/11 KV grid sub-station on Deen Dayal Upadhaya Marg in central Delhi, Jain rued that he was receiving complaints about false charges and inflated bills.

“Poor people living in rural areas are most affected. Maximum cases are of false charges and inflated bills. Power distribution companies should focus on their infrastructure. Power cut should not happen due to poor infrastructure in the city,” he said. “All pending cases should be settled once and for all so that we don’t waste our energy in dealing with it. A new simple grievance redressal system should be developed by discoms,” he suggested. Jain commended the Rs 20 crore sub-station, which has an initial capacity of 50 MVA and can be augmented to 75 MVA.

“The infrastructure of this sub-station is very good. It will have more life but they (discoms) should make similar infrastructural arrangement across the city. Delhi is a modern city, so we should make modern infrastructure so that in the long run we will be able to save money,” Jain said. However, he criticised expenses made by the company for the inauguration event.

“The amount of money spent on decoration of inauguration program should be utilised on infrastructure so that public get benefit. If you are spending one lakh for the inaugural function, then manage it in Rs 10,000 and utilise the rest Rs 90,000 for public work. I am against wasteful expenses. There is no need to put up swanky tents for the inauguration. I estimate around Rs 5 lakh must have been spent after the function. Finally public will have to pay this money,” he noted.