BJP accuses CM Kejriwal of irregularities in electricity discoms

New Delhi [India], October 6 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party spokespersons Syed Zafar Islam and Harish Khurana on Thursday accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of appointing chosen officials to facilitate corruption in the electricity companies and preventing audits.
BJP spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam pointed out the Delhi Chief Minister's previous promises and accused him of "stealing" electricity.
"In 2013, Kejriwal used to accuse the two companies of the Anil Ambani group and the Tata Discom of being 'thieves'. I want to ask what happened that the man who used to talk about stopping electricity theft, is himself stealing electricity," Islam said.
"BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPS) and BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL), in both these companies, 51% stake is with Anil Ambani and the remaining 49% with the Delhi Government. In both these companies there were Rs 21,250 crores outstanding on Delhi government which wasn't paid," Islam further said.
The BJP leader further accused the Delhi Chief Minister of appointing his "pawns" to the board of companies to "facilitate" corruption.
"Since the Delhi government also had a 49% stake, the government used to keep retired IAS officers, retired Finance Secretaries and retired Revenue Secretaries as its representatives to protect their interests. But, Kejriwal Ji removed them and appointed his own pawns to protect his own interest and facilitate corruption. ND Gupta and Jasmine Shah are known for corruption. Kejriwal has kept them as his pawns," Islam said.
"Delhi Electricity Regulation Commission wrote a letter on February 19, 2018. In the letter, the commission asked in very clear words to directly transfer the subsidy amount to the account of the beneficiaries. Even Kejriwal used to say that we will transfer money to people's accounts, then why did he not do it?" asked Islam.
The BJP leader further alleged the Delhi Chief Minister of stopping the audit of the government spending and accused the Delhi government of corruption by giving commissions.
"The Kejriwal government took a decision in 2016 that audits will be conducted every year. But, he didn't follow his own decision. Because, if the audit had been done, it would have revealed how much money went to the public and how much to the beneficiaries," Islam said.
"Whether it is the corruption in buses, corruption in liquor, or this corruption in electricity, this government has indulged in corruption along with Discoms by giving them commissions. He has to answer about the future settlements of Rs 11,500 crores. Who were the beneficiaries, and how was the subsidy adjusted? All these issues should come out in the public domain?" Islam further said.
BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana also attacked the Kejriwal government saying, "When the AAP government came, Kejriwal used to say that we will waive off all the electricity bills and the electricity bills will be the lowest in Delhi. He also used to accuse the power Discom of being thieves".
He also said that the public has no idea how public money has been spent and demanded an audit of the government spending.
"A total of Rs 16,233 crores has been extracted as fixed charges in the last five years. Rs 12,408 crores was given as subsidies between 2015-21. 2,677 crores were given as a surcharge, the regulatory assets were worth 9,195 crores and 3,900 crores were paid for the power purchase agreement. But, the total figure stands at Rs 49,636 crores, Khurana said.
"No one knows the calculation of this Rs 49,000 crores. I want to ask, do the people of Delhi don't have the right to know how their money has been used? We are only asking what the Kejriwal government promised. We demand the whole audit of the government spending," Khurana said. (ANI)