The AAP government's flagship power subsidy scheme was at the core of a political storm on Friday with power minister Atishi alleging that an estimated 46 lakh households in the city would stop benefiting from it because Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena was sitting on a crucial file related to its funding. Minutes after she addressed a press conference, L-G House officials, terming Atishi’s allegations part of a “drama” by the AAP government, clarified that not only had he approved the file late on Thursday evening, but it had also been dispatched to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal first thing Friday morning, hours before Atishi's interaction with the media. Following the clarification from Raj Niwas, the AAP government stated that Saxena had “bowed down” to the AAP government's “firm stand” by approving the file after news of the possible cessation of the scheme caused a “huge uproar” across the city after Atishi's press conference which had forced Saxena to “hastily” approve it. Raj Niwas attributed the AAP government's statement in response to its clarification in a bid to “save face” after having “been caught on a very very embarrassing and wrong foot” by resorting to “fake claims and self-serving false narratives”. This, as Saxena, in a note to Kejriwal, questioned why the AAP government was “avoiding” the audit of subsidies amounting to Rs 13,549 crore given to private DISCOMs for more than six years between 2016 and 2022. Atishi told a press conference, “This means that the power bills being generated from tomorrow will not be subject to subsidised rates…those who were getting zero bills will get higher bills and so will those who used to get 50 per cent rebate in power bills… This is because the L-G has stalled the file related to the Delhi cabinet’s decision to continue the power subsidy in the coming year,” she said. The power minister, who had written to Saxena over the issue and asked for a meeting to discuss it a day earlier, alleged that the file had deliberately been delayed. Atishi said the Delhi government could not move forward with the disbursal of the requisite funds till the file was returned to it from the L-G’s office. She said the issue of the funds for the scheme was flagged to her in a letter by one of the private power distribution companies. “I received letters (from a discom) stating that since they had not received any information regarding the power subsidy so far, they were going to begin billing at normal rates from today,” the minister said. “As soon as I received the first letter from the discom, I sought time from the L-G to discuss the issue which is related to the welfare of 46 lakh families in Delhi…I sought a meeting, only for five minutes with him, to discuss an urgent issue,” she said. On their part, LG House officials said the file had been approved by the L-G on Thursday evening and had already been dispatched to the CM on Friday morning. Accusing Atishi of “misleading people with false statements”, L-G House officials added that the decision regarding the power subsidy, which had a deadline of April 15, had deliberately been kept pending at its end with the file being sent to Raj Niwas only on April 11. “If at all she and the CM should answer the people of Delhi as to why a decision in this regard was kept pending till April 4 when the deadline was April 15? Why was the file sent to LG on April 11?” LG House officials asked. “What was the need for a drama on April 13 by writing a letter and the press conference today when the file was already approved last evening and sent to the CM this morning?” LG House officials added. Meanwhile, in a note to the Chief Minister, the L-G questioned why the AAP government had not made it compulsory for the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) to audit DISCOMs till now, expressed surprise that its appeal in the Supreme Court against a Delhi High Court order quashing a CAG audit of DISCOMs had been pending for more than seven years and asked it to expedite it by filing appeal for urgent hearing. Such subsidies, Saxena stated in his note, were public funds collected as revenue from the people of Delhi and it was “the prime responsibility of the government to ensure that benefits reach the targeted population” rather than “getting pilfered for the gain of vested interests”.
