NEW DELHI: Delhi BJP MLAs on Tuesday wrote a letter to Assembly Speaker Ramniwas Goel demanding a special session of the Assembly to discuss power purchase agreement charge (PPAC) and other surcharges.
The letter was a part of the campaign run by the Delhi BJP against the excessive PPAC, pension surcharge, and other surcharges imposed on consumers allegedly by the Delhi government.
At a press conference after the meeting, the BJP MLAs said that they urged the Speaker to hold a special session of the Assembly to draw the AAP government’s attention and fix accountability on the “problems faced by people due to the high price of electricity and waterlogging”.
The delegation included MLAs Vijender Gupta, Mohan Singh Bisht, Ajay Mahawar, Anil Bajpayi and Abhay Verma.. “The BJP MLAs requested the speaker to convene a session to discuss the power and water cuts and the heavy PPAC and other surcharges being added to the electricity bills,” a party leader said.
The legislators alleged that the people of Delhi are facing problems by the surcharges being added to their electricity bills. “For ordinary consumers with bills exceeding 200 units, more than half of the bill amount consists of PPAC and other surcharges. On one hand, the people of Delhi are facing power and water cuts, and on the other, they are bearing the double burden of heavy power and water bills,” they said.
The BJP has been protesting against the increased power tariffs and water supply issues and demanding withdrawal of the hike in power purchase adjustment charges.
The controversy stems from the Delhi government’s decision to revise the power purchase adjustment charge (PPAC) by discoms, causing a 6 to 8 per cent increase in domestic electricity bills. The BJP accused the AAP government of colluding with discoms for mutual benefit, while Delhi’s power minister Atishi argued that the opposition is spreading falsehoods about the PPAC’s impact on electricity costs.