Peoples' Action to collect complaints against power privatisation

New Delhi, Sep 4 (UNI) People's Action in association with the United Residents' Joint Action (URJA), will organise a 'People's Bijli Adalat' on September 9 here to collect evidence of misappropriation in the power privatisation deal.

''The Bijli Adalat, to be held near Jantar Mantar, is an attempt to collect evidence of misappropriation in the power privatisation deal against the DISCOMS, the Government of Delhi and the Power Ministry and even the DERC which has so far acted like a rubber stamp of private power companies,'' People's Action President Sanjay Kaul said.

He said problems raised by the people will become the matter for public interest litigation as well as an exhibition of the extent of corruption and malpractises in the contract and operation of the DISCOMS.

"It will be a carnival of complaints," he added.

Mr Kaul said the adalat will be designed to allow classification of complaints in sectoral terms.

''We will create different stalls for each kind of complaint such as overbilling, harassment, meter replacements, fast moving meters, billing errors, poor power supply, bad condition of transformers, poor lighting of colonies, power cuts and behaviour of service contractors,'' he added.

''There will be advocates to facilitate classification of cases and then a scrutiny will be carried out and the cases used for compiling a case book on the issue," Mr Kaul said.

"We intend to file this compendium with the President and the Prime Minister to bring to their notice the widespread disenchantment with power privatisation in Delhi and to ask for a CBI inquiry into the DVB deal,'' he added.

UNI NR MSJ HS1850