When DVB comes calling, they down shutters

NEW DELHI, April 8: Traders of Central Market in Lajpat Nagar are heading for a showdown with Delhi Vidyut Board DVB officials. They do...

NEW DELHI, April 8: Traders of Central Market in Lajpat Nagar are heading for a showdown with Delhi Vidyut Board DVB officials. They don8217;t want the DVB men raiding the market, like they did today; the DVB has given them 10 days time to correct their electrical connections, before it launches another series of raids.

This afternoon, a team of DVB men accompanied by the local police had come raiding. But as soon as word spread, the traders closed down the market for the day, like they had done two weeks ago. Lending support was local MLA Tarvinder Singh Marwah.

8220;I agree that there are instances of power theft. But today was slightly different,8221; says Marwah. 8220;The DVB had promised to give the traders some time to clear their bills etc. But they raided the market again. I have taken up the issue with the Chief Minister.8221;

The tussle between the traders and the DVB goes back to two weeks ago, when the latter had raided seven shops, registered three FIRs and issued hefty bills to the owners. In protest, the agitated market association had closed down the market. They had also threatened not to allow the DVB men inside unless they were accompanied by members of the association during a raid.

DVB officials say they are only doing their duty. And the traders are holding the government to ransom. They traders claim they are being harassed in the name of raids against power thefts.

8220;On Tuesday, a local DVB man came to my shop and demanded a watch for free,8221; says Vijay Sehgal, whose Titan showroom was raided today and which provoked traders to close down the market once again. 8220;I told him that he could buy it with a 15 per cent discount. Then he said that my shop would be raided in a couple of days. But if I gave him Rs 50,000, he would ensure that the raid was scuttled.8221;

Sehgal says he refused to pay the bribe. Today, around 12.30 p.m., more than 20 DVB officials and policemen came to the shop. Sehgal was away in a bank, when his employees called him up on his mobile.

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8220;I rushed back. But the DVB people had already disconnected the power supply. They accused me of power theft. But when I out pointed that all my bills were clear and the seal on my meter was intact, they left the place,8221; says Sehgal. He later went to the Lajpat Nagar Police Station and filed a complaint.

Adds G.S. Sethi, another trader whose shop was raided today: 8220;I had set up my new shop only on January 1. But the DVB raided the place and handed me a bill of Rs 3.16 lakh. Moreover, they have asked me to pay the amount in cash. My shop is very small. Even if I use all my electrical equipment, there is no way I can run up such a huge bill in three months.8221;

What has infuriated all the traders of Central Market is that despite the 8220;obvious loopholes in their reasoning for conducting the raids8221;, the DVB men refused to restore the electric supply to these shops today.

8220;Sehgal and Sethi are not just two examples. We have had enough. Next time the DVB comes to raid the market without prior notice, we will give them a thrashing. If they treat us like criminals, they can8217;t expect any better treatment from us,8221; says Gurpreet Singh, a cloth merchant and office-bearer of the traders8217; association.