The Delhi Government on Tuesday decided to slash the electricity rates in the city by 50 percent. The decision was taken in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Addressing a press conference after the end of the Cabinet meeting, Kejriwal announced, “Till the time the audit of the power distribution companies is completed, we had a cabinet meeting and we discussed how we can provide relief to the poor people of Delhi. It was decided that the rates from 0-200 and 201-400 units consumption of electricity, will slashed by 50 percent. After the audit report comes, we will decide accordingly.” “The decision will benefit around 28 lakh Delhites. The burden on the government will be of around 60 crores,” claimed kejriwal. Earlier today, Kejriwal met Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Shashi Kant Sharma and is reported to have discussed ways to go about auditing the finances of the three private power distribution companies that supply power across the national capital. Kejriwal is reported to have given the power discoms less than 24 hours to state in writing why they should or should not be audited. The move on power discoms comes a day after the Kejriwal-led government fulfilled its first promise of supplying 666/667 litres of water everyday to each Delhi household free of charge provided they had a water meter. Kejriwal told reporters earlier that the “Delhi government is of the view that audit of these companies can be done. But under the provisions of law, the three companies were being given the opportunity of being heard on the government audit of their finances.” The ailing Chief Minister, who has been advised complete bed rest by the doctors, also tweeted, “Going to meet the CAG, to discuss possibility of an audit of the three power companies.” “I believe we have 48 hours in hand for doing whatever we can to help people in this period,” the Chief Minister”s tweet said. (ANI)
