Living under darkness, 1984 victims told to take new power connections

Living in government-allotted flats in Tilak Vihar, they have received free electricity for almost three decades but now the 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims have been asked to apply for new connections to get uninterrupted supply.

Some 500 families in the area say they are being ‘forced’ to apply for electricity connections by power distributor BSES Rajdhani.

The families claim that they were promised free power by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as part of rehabilitation of victims of November 84 carnage. However, they have nothing to show on record.

BSES on its part says that they did not make any promise and people must get new connections for uninterrupted supply.

There are 944 janta flats, which used to get power through a 1,000 KV transformer which burst on 6 September. BSES has for the time being installed a mobile transformer of 600 KV, saying there was no point investing in an area which gives them zero revenue.

The residents of this area are now enduring long power cuts of at least 16 hours a day.

‘Life has become hell. My children’s studies are getting affected during exam times. What do we do? We get power only for storing water in the morning and evening. We can’t sleep properly. We don’t get power during nights. These last 30 days have been terrible,’ said Rupinder Kaur.

A BSES official said all their efforts to convince residents to get the metres installed have failed.