There is nothing called free power, defaulting MPs may face action

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: The New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) is contemplating stern action, including disconnecting electricity and water ...

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: The New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) is contemplating stern action, including disconnecting electricity and water supply, against MPs and former MPs whose bills have piled up over the years. These MPs and former MPs owe the NDMC Rs 5 crore — since a monthly surcharge of 3 per cent is being added to their bills, the amount is increasing fast.

An updated statement of outstanding electricity and water bills reveals that there are 109 sitting and former MPs of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha who have dues of above Rs 1 lakh. The list is headed by Union Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan who owes Rs 9.3 lakh to the NDMC followed by former ministers A.B.A. Gani Khan Chaudhury with Rs 7.2 lakh, Rashid Masood with Rs 7 lakh and George Fernandes with Rs 4.8 lakh.

The NDMC has served the chronic defaulters several notices. Since the payments have still not been forthcoming, civil cases have also been filed in court.

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At present, cases against 22 MPs and former MPs are being pursued in the Tis Hazari courts. However, municipal officials say if this ploy does not work, the NDMC is contemplating warning the MPs that their electricity and water lines may eventually be snapped.

Figures of the mounting electricity and water bills have also been submitted by the NDMC to the House Committee of Parliament from time to time. Last year, Parliament was informed that till May 1996, MPs and former MPs owed the Corporation Rs 4.1 crore. The updated figures, Parliament was told, could not be submitted since the computer which was storing the data had been sealed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

This, according to the statement given to Parliament, was because the CBI was investigating a case of misappropriation of municipal revenue against the computer contractor who had been awarded the work by the NDMC.

The NDMC appears to have overcome this hurdle now and the latest figures show that the dues have shot up from Rs 4.1 crore to Rs 5.03 crore. Calculated at a 3-per cent monthly surcharge, the unpaid bills of an MP shoot up by 36 per cent every year.

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Some MPs are known to have complained about the high rate of surcharge as well as the fact that it was actually their retinue of servants who were misusing the electricity and water facilities in the servant quarters attached to their official bungalows. The NDMC’s response has been that it is the MPs who were responsible for their servants and that in some cases, the electricity connections in the servant quarters had been disconnected with the cognizance of the MP.

Members of the House Committee explain that the electricity and water bills of MPs and former MPs have crossed all limits despite the recent and substantial increase in the free allowance for power given to them.

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More

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