Delhi govt has no plan to revise power subsidy scheme; LG not briefed: Atishi

The Delhi government has no plan to revise its power subsidy scheme and it will continue without any restrictions of sanctioned load to consumers Power Minister Atishi said on MondayShe told reporters the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission had issued a statutory advice to the Delhi government in 2020 asking it to consider restricting electricity subsidy to the poor and needy consumers The DERC withdrew the advisory on January 6 this year saying the issue did not fall under its jurisdictionLast week Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena asked Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to direct the power department to place the DERC advisory before the council of ministers and take a decision within 15 daysThe Delhi government is committed to ensure roundtheclock power supply There is no plan to revise the subsidy scheme as was reported recently The LG was perhaps briefed incorrectly because the DERC has withdrawn its statutory advice Atishi saidShe also said the government will simplify the process for consumers applying for subsidy or giving it up Last year Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal declared that only those who apply for the subsidy will get itAtishi said the DERC has stated that its advice was legally incorrect and it could give advice to the government only on 4 matters excluding subsidyThe consumers have to apply online as well as offline to get a 100 per cent subsidy on consumption of 200 units per month and 50 per cent subsidy up to Rs 800 on monthly consumption of 201 to 400 unitsThe LGs instruction was based on a report by the chief secretary that said the DERC had advised the Delhi government in October 2020 to extend the power subsidy to consumers with a sanctioned load of either up to 3KW or up to 5KW as it will cover almost 95 per cent of the total domestic consumers and save the government up to Rs 316 croreAlso read25681 students in Maharashtra lost their parents to Covid19 pandemic Union GovtAtishi alleged that the LGs instruction hinted at malafide intent to create hurdle in Kejriwal governments work She added that around 95 per cent domestic power consumers who earlier availed subsidy have applied for it so farShe justified the power subsidy saying the governments revenue has increased and its budget size has gone up from Rs 30000 crore in 2015 to Rs 75000 crore at presentAlso its not right in principle that government decides consumption by the people and what electronic gadgets they use and puts restriction on it The government has just given an opportunity to those who want to give up subsidy she saidAtishi said the DERC has also withdrawn its advice for direct benefit transfer to power consumers instead of subsidy disbursal to discoms She said the government was not in favour of it as it was unfeasibleShe said the current system of application by consumers to avail subsidy will be relaunched in April making the process simpler so that they could do so in a yes or no method or likewiseThe power minister also said the government will soon come up with a summer plan for uninterrupted power supply with a common dashboard for micro observation of power cutsShe said the discoms have anticipated peak power demand of 8000 MW this summerThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever