Kejriwal assures relief to industries on fixed power charges

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Friday said the government will take steps to provide relief to industries over fixed power charges they have to pay during the lockdown period from March-June. “… Adequate steps will be taken to provide relief, vis-a-vis the fixed power charges that commercial and industrial units are obliged to pay despite economic losses due to corona,” the government said in a statement.

Over the past few months, industrialists have approached the government seeking relief from fixed charges during the lockdown when most units remained closed. Industries are charged Rs 250/KW as fixed charges. “They keep assuring us, but nothing has happened yet,” Ashok Jain, president of the Narela Industrial Complex Welfare Association, told The Indian Express.

Manmohan Mehra, general secretary of the Patparganj FIE Entrepreneurs Association, said their monthly bills run into lakhs: “Industries have 50-100 MW load installed, and the monthly bills are Rs 1 lakh and above, even for those units which remained shut over the months since lockdown 2.0, when they were allowed to open.”

As per the release issued by the Delhi government, “CM Arvind Kejriwal…said that while the decision to impose a complete lockdown then was essential, Delhi has now decided to lift the lockdown and it will take time to cover the economic shortfall now that businesses and industries have resumed.”