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'Power privatisation in Delhi not a failure'

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Ajay Maken, Delhi's power minister, has denied that power sector reforms in the capital have failed.

Speaking to rediff.com, Maken claimed that if the reforms fail in Delhi, then they would also fail in rest of the country as well.

"I would not say that the reforms in the power sectors have failed because we handed over distribution of some key sectors to the private companies. We handed over the distribution to Tata Power Company and BSES only last week. You cannot expect wonders in a week. This is only a transitional phase. What has been happening in last 50 years cannot be undone in one single day," Maken said.

The power shortage in the capital, argue those who are against the privatisation of the power sector, has become worse in last one week. "We have been experiencing power cuts of up to 8 to 10 hours a day for last one week," said Savita Oberoi, a documentary film-maker. "My work has been suffering on account of erratic power supply. My computer goes off even before I have begun writing," she said.

"We had a major power breakdown a couple of days back. We had to practically sit through the night as there was no power supply between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.," said Seema Joshi, who lives in Pitampura in North Delhi.

According to top Delhi government sources, power shortage is nothing new to Delhi, but this time around the media is highlighting the outages more prominently just because of the entry of private sector in the power distribution arena in the capital.

"The main reason is that there is total lack of communication between the workers of the Delhi Vidyut Board and the private sector. We don't know who to take orders from," said a junior engineer with the DVB, which has been handed over to the private sector.

"Besides, some people with vested interests are feeding all sorts of stories to the media. If you look at the complaints, you will notice that most of these originate from areas which are still being handled by the Delhi Vidyut Board and not by the private companies," said an electrical engineer, who has been with the DVB for 25 years.

Though Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had floated a 'sabotage' theory, a Tata Power official categorically denied the charge.

"There is no truth in the allegations that some employees are not cooperating with us. We are getting total cooperation from the officers and subordinate staff of DVB," he said.

He, however, admitted that a powerful private contractors' lobby is wreaking havoc. "These people have been virtually looting the DVB since long. Now that two major private companies have taken over the distribution of power in major parts of Delhi, they are uncertain about their future. Hence, they are causing disruption of power supply here and there. We will, however, soon sort this out," he added.

"While the tussle between the pro- and anti-privatisation factions continues, Delhi goes without proper electric supply. Once it begins to rain hard, the problems will multiply," fears Dr Rani Bhatia, a resident of Vasant Kunj.

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