living in Government-allotted flats in Tilak Vihar, they have received free electricity for almost three decades, but, now the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims have been asked to apply for new connections to get uninterrupted power supply.
The families claim that they were promised free power by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as part of the rehabilitation of victims of November 1984 carnage. However, they have nothing to show on record. The 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 1,000kV transformer that burst on September 6. The 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 16-hour long power outages per day.
According to BSES sources, the distribution company suffers an annual loss of around `5 crore because of non-payment by consumers in this area. “life has become hell. My children’s studies are getting affected during exams. What do we doIJ We get power only for storing water in the mornings and evenings. We can’t sleep properly. There is no electricity at night. The last 30 days have been terrible,” said Rupinder Kaur.
A BSES official said that all their efforts to convince residents to get the meters installed have failed. "It’s not that we want to harass people. The annual loss that we incur is more than `5 crore. We try talking to them, but there is no positive response,” the official, who is involved in the talks with residents, said.