Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit - "Electricity and Water: Ever or Never!"

Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit - "Electricity and Water: Ever or Never!" [Druckversion]

"Electricity and Water: Ever or Never!"

Constant power-cuts in the hot summer months in Delhi and that too without water…. This is the plight of the people of Delhi. With India being one of the coveted economic zones in Asia, compared only with China, the Capital city of Delhi is faced with power shortage and acute water scarcity.

People’s Forum conducted a debate on this issue and invited three distinguished panelists for their monthly series on current affairs. This month the panelists included Dr. Harshavardhan, MLA (BJP), Delhi Vidhan Sabha, who has taken a keen interest in improving the delivery of public services in the city of Delhi, Mr. Rakesh Mehta, ex-Municipal Commissioner of Delhi and now Secretary, Ministry of Power and Mr. Arun Mathur, CEO Jal Board.

Dr. Harshavardhan in his opening remarks pointed out that there is a complete lack of vision and Governance in the present regime. The present regime has not been able to take into grips the alarming situation of power and water supply in Delhi. Every year the story is repeated without any attempt to anticipate the requirements of Delhi. His ire was essentially directed at poor management of water in Delhi by highlighting a small demand-supply gap. Likewise, a similar situation is observed in power supply. Delhi has failed to add a single MW of power since the entire eight years tenure of this government. Delhi continues to remain dependent on outside sources for power. Every year Government faces a crisis situation but has repeatedly failed to provide an everlasting solution, for eg. setting up a new power plant in Delhi. Moreover, the dream project of gas power plants has also not taken-off. To add to the troubles, there were three tariff hikes in the last couple of years, and fourth one is in the offing. Leaking tankers, water mafia of private operators, complete disregard of citizens’ woes and unresponsive government are indicative of visionless and poor management. In all, poor governance is on all fronts.

Mr. Rakesh Mehta, was more focused on the poor power supply situation in Delhi. Generally, there are three stakeholders in power sector, namely generation, transmission and distribution processes. He confirmed that Delhi has no resources of its own to generate electricity and hence the problems are those of taking electricity from outside. After privatization, the distribution losses have been substantially curtailed. He apprised the audience that a new power plant is coming up in Chattisgarh, which may improve power supply situation in Delhi in coming years.

Mr. Arun Mathur opined that there was room for Better Management, Control and Supervision at the Delhi Jal Board. With state of the art technology at Sonia Vihar plant, once put online, will substantially help in reducing the problems of citizens of Delhi. This plant is likely to start latest by the end of July. The Delhi Jal Board meets out the water requirements through, pipeline network, tankers, tubewells and borewells. Supply-side can never really cater to the demand side unless the consumers themselves adopt adequate measures for water conservation. Water is a precious commodity and has to be put to judicious use.

The discussion brought out serious differences on the issues of poor management and governance issues. The Commonwealth Games may prove to be a boon for Delhi-ites because all departments are gearing their resources to provide world-class services in Delhi.

Audience raised their concern regarding the forced use of electronic meters, existing disparity in the power tariff rates for NDMC and MCD areas, complete apathy of government woes of citizens, especially long and unscheduled power cuts. On water, audience highlighted the arbitrariness of Delhi Jal Board in deciding tariff structure and additional sewage charges proportionate to consumption charges. Number of participants gave their representations to Mr. Mathur directly on the assurance that he will definitely take-up all the matters with his officers.

It is very easy to criticize departments and governments for not performing, but the real solution to any problem is when all citizens of Delhi start playing an active role in fighting hurdles and obstacles that come in the way.

After all this is also what People’s Forum is all about………Active Citizenship!!!!