Residents of Delhi's Sultanpuri area, along with Congress legislator Jai Kishan Wednesday protested against the ongoing power crisis while AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal accused the Narendra Modi-led central government of shielding discoms.The residents have been facing power outages lasting 10-12 hours a day."We have never seen such long power cuts, lasting up to 10-12 hours a day, due to which even the water supply has been affected. Our children too are not able to prepare for their examinations," a resident of the area said.Jai Kishan, a legislator from Sultanpur Majra, sat on a hunger strike early Wednesday."We are facing acute power shortage, so I decided to sit on a hunger strike. I will decide on my next move only after meeting other party leaders," Kishan told IANS.
Meanwhile, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Delhi chief minister Kejriwal sought an appointment with him over Delhi's power crisis.Alleging Delhi's power discoms are "not doing their job properly", Kejriwal wrote: "It, however, appears the government is shying away from fixing the accountability of discoms and at times one gets an impression the government is trying to protect these discoms."The AAP convener asked Modi to "strictly enforce the accountability of these discoms", citing an agreement which binds them "to maintain their equipment and network so people get uninterrupted power supply".
Following a storm May 30 which damaged transmission lines in Delhi, the city has seen erratic and long power cuts in the sweltering heat. The mercury reached a 62-year-high of 47.8 degrees Celsius June 8 in certain parts of the national capital.Kejriwal also asked Modi to reduce power tariff by 30 percent by introducing subsidy -- a promise made by the BJP ahead of the December 2013 Delhi assembly polls.
"Now, Delhi is being indirectly ruled by your central government and I would like to draw your attention towards the fact that during the last assembly elections held in December, the BJP had promised 30 percent reduction in electricity tariff," he wrote."I want to come and meet you with all the MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party to place all these issues before you. I will be highly obliged if you can spare 10 minutes from your busy schedule for this meeting."