Delhi BJP leaders and workers on Friday staged a protest against the AAP government near the Secretariat over supporting the discom companies for hiking electricity prices in the national Capital.

The protesters including representatives from Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) burnt their electricity bills and tried to march towards the Delhi Secretariat from Shaheedi Park at ITO but were stopped by police. Police detained Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva and took him to I.P police station, after which he was released after a warning.

Addressing the protesters, Sachdeva claimed that it was Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who brought power purchase adjustment charge (PPAC) to Delhi and raised it without touching the per unit cost of electricity for political benefit.

He said, “PPAC was introduced in Delhi only because of Arvind Kejriwal. In 2011, under the pressure of the then citizen organisation "Urja" and Kejriwal's new movement, Sheila Dikshit government imposed 1.5 per cent PPAC instead of increasing electricity rates. BJP strongly opposed it, some citizen organisations even went to court.”

PPAC is a surcharge to cover fluctuations in power purchase costs incurred by the discoms.

“In 2014, when President's rule was imposed in Delhi, a delegation of Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) along with the then Delhi BJP President Satish Upadhyay went to the then Power Minister Piyush Goyal who talked to the Power Discom and stopped the collection of PPAC,” he claimed.

The Delhi BJP chief claimed that from August 2014 to September 2015, PPAC was not applied in the electricity bills in Delhi, but the Arvind Kejriwal government again implemented it. He added that from 1.7 per cent in 2015, it has now gone up to 46 per cent.

Further, Sachdeva said, “Kejriwal gave legal sanity to PPAC by making it a part of the business regulation plan for calculating power traffic in Delhi. Similarly, the pension surcharge which was one per cent in 2015 is 7.5 per cent now. Metre charge and load surcharge have increased three times in 10 years of Kejriwal.” He added that the people of Delhi are paying the price for the Kejriwal government not making a plan to buy advance electricity from the power grid by making prepayment on time. Northwest Delhi BJP MP Yogendra Chandolia claimed, “The people of Delhi are facing a financial crisis due to the continuous increase in the prices of electricity. On one hand, the people of Delhi are facing problems due to water in Delhi and on the other hand, Kejriwal has made the people of Delhi suffer by giving false promises of free electricity.” Former South Delhi BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri claimed that Kejriwal is looting the people of Delhi and said, “Kejriwal, who is looting the people of Delhi in the name of electricity, had promised to halve the electricity bills and waive off water bills upon coming to power, but today, if poor people run even a small shop from their home, their electricity bills run into thousands.”

President of East Delhi RWAs Joint Front Federation B S Vohra said, “We strongly oppose the hidden PPAC hike in our electricity bills. While some people get free 200 units, others are being forced to pay PPAC charges of upto 37.75 per cent as well as 40.35 per cent, alongwith exorbitant fixed charges, while Delhi government keeps claiming no hike in the electricity bills.”

In view of the protest, traffic remained heavy on several routes including Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg (BSZ Marg). "In view of a protest by a political party near Shaheedi Park, BSZ Marg Delhi, traffic will remain heavy at BSZ Marg, IP Marg, and BSZ Marg may be closed for traffic movement between 10.30 AM to 12.30 PM. Kindly avoid these roads and plan your journey accordingly," the Delhi Traffic Police said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).