BJP attacks AAP over electricity bill hike: “Delhi government is looting the people…”
New Delhi [India], July 14 (ANI): Delhi BJP chief Virendraa Sachdeva on Sunday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party government over the electricity price hike for domestic consumers, terming the surge in the price of power as looting the people of Delhi.
“Delhi government is looting the people of Delhi. The common man is struggling due to a hike in electricity bills. Every person who is paying the electricity bill with honesty is being looted,” Sachdeva told ANI.
In February this year, the Delhi government made a revision to the power purchase adjustment charge (PPAC) by discoms, which has led to a 6 to 8 per cent rise in the electricity bills of domestic consumers.
Sachdeva alleged that money is being collected illegally in the name of PPAC surcharges and pension surcharges and “the Delhi government and power companies are enjoying this money.”
“Tomorrow, we will protest at 14 electricity offices until the PPAC and pension surcharge are withdrawn. We have written to the chairman of the DRC and demanded an inquiry into how the Delhi government and power companies are doing a scam,” he said.
On Friday, BJP workers led by Sachdeva held a protest in the national capital over the power price hike.
The BJP alleges that the AAP government conspired with the discoms for their benefit. However, Delhi’s power minister and AAP leader Atishi countered that the opposition party has misled the public by circulating “rumours” that the PPAC is to blame for the rise in electricity costs.
Earlier, in a post on X, Virendraa Sachdeva said that the Kejriwal government is only here to fulfil their personal interests and the introduction of the PPAC in Delhi is just to expand its corruption and operate the scam system.
“The goal of the Kejriwal government in Delhi is only to fulfil personal interests; the AAP government never thought beyond this. In 2014, when Delhi was under President’s rule, the then Delhi BJP President Shri Satish Upadhyay ji, along with a delegation of RWAs, went to the then Union Energy Minister Shri Piyush Goyal and talked to the Power Discoms and got PPAC banned, due to which PPAC was not applied in electricity bills in Delhi from around August 2014 to September 2015. But the Kejriwal Government made the debut of PPAC in Delhi to expand its corruption and operate the scam system and by making PPAC a part of the Business Regulation Plan for calculating power tariffs in Delhi, the Kejriwal Government has given it constitutional protection,” he said.
He further questioned the increase in PPAC from 1.5 per cent in 2015 to 46 per cent now.
“Today, the pension surcharge, which was 1% in 2015, has increased to 7.5 per cent and the metre charge and load surcharge have also increased three times in 10 years.
Seeing the situation of our citizens in Delhi, a protest was held in Delhi today in which BJP workers and common people were present in huge numbers. Kejriwal and Atishi should answer how PPAC increased from 1.5 per cent to 46 per cent,” he said.