With the letter of comfort row yet to be settled, it is now the Delhi legislative Assembly Petition Committee which has asked the Principal Secretary (Power) to call the DERC chairman and CEOs of the private discoms to attend a meeting on Wednesday.
The Petition Committee, headed by Deputy Speaker Bandana Kumari, has called the meeting to discuss various issues pertaining to electricity-related problems being faced by the Delhiites. The Petition Committee members — Rakhi Birla, Jagdeep Singh, Rajender Pal Gautam, Vishesh Rai, Shri Prakash, Ajesh Yadav, Naresh Balyan and Mohinder Goyal — are expected to participate in the meeting.
Among other officers called for the meeting are Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel’s secretary, Deputy Secretary (Administration /legislation) of the Delhi Assembly, Assembly’s Senior Accounts Officer and Junior Engineer (Electricity) of the PWD.
Earlier, a major controversy had erupted with Power Minister Satyendra Jain accusing his Power Secretary Shakuntala Gamlin of trying to issue the comfort letter to the discoms so that they could lend money from the financial institutions. Some senior bureaucrats had said the Government had in the past also issued such letters as it had 49 per cent stake in the private power companies.
With the Congress and the BJP accusing the Power Minister for humiliating a women officer in public and not addressing to the power woes being faced by the Delhiites, the Petition Committee is going to take up the complaints related to electricity supply with the top officials of the DERC and discoms.
The Assembly Speaker said that he had received a large number of complaints on power woes in the national Capital. The complaints were related to inflated bills, fast reading meters and frequent power cuts. “I have forwarded these complaints to the Petition Committee for appropriate action,” he added.
A highly-placed source said the Speaker wanted to summon the DERC chief to the Delhi Assembly, only to drop the idea after he was apprised that the DERC chief could neither be called to the Assembly nor his name could be mentioned during the Vidhan Sabha proceedings.