Airport Metro Line in Delhi-an example of dangerous PPP commitment of Govt. of Delhi, DMRC involving reliance industries corruption – FIR to be registered against the culprits involved

BJP Delhi Pradesh President Sh. Vijender Gupta on the news of closer of Airport Metro from tomorrow (Sunday) onwards has expressed his deep anguish on behalf of BJP that Govt. of Delhi is playing havoc with the lives and properties of the people who travelled on the route during last 2 years. We are fortunate that never it is too late that DMRC could understand the risk they have taken with the passengers so far has travelled with great fanfare and trust. But that has been belied now with the disclosure of technical shortcomings that has forced DMRC to discontinue this service otherwise the lives and properties could be put in danger in any movement. The real disclosure is yet to come as to how much Govt. exchequer has been looted by Reliance Group out of this project in which they have compromise the safety and security by applying materials that is not up to mark from the point of construction and safety. 

Sh. Gupta has demanded that a technical committee should be immediately formed to enquire in to the happenings and those responsible contractors, DMRC officials or the company involved in the work should be brought to book for such kind of criminal offence while they have committed with the people of India and abroad who already travelled by this train. 

Sh. Gupta has explained as to how the Ministers of Delhi Govt. applauded them which constructing and inaugurating the Metro line when they declared that this Metro line is a world class and could go for a century without any maintenance and hindrance in service. The target of speed thus envisaged for 130 km per hour could not take of even up to 50 km per hour at any point of time. 

Now it has transpired that out of total pillars of 122 numbers the wirings are bad and it could lead to any mishaps at any point of time. This was very much in the knowledge of Indian Urban Development Ministry yet they kept mum for the reasons best known to them. For the last two years the Metro pulled on how only god known. Needless to mention here that in another PPP project of electricity supply in Delhi the BRPL has shown a loss of Rs. 560 crores during the financial year 2007-08 and 2008-09 along with another company BYPL which has shown Rs. 55 crores loss but NDPL did all the years. It is open secret now that in the name of these companies whether MNC or Indian the people of Delhi are being looted in the name of development, as our honourable Chief Minister Mrs. Sheila Dikshit.

GOVERNMENT SHOULD IMMEDIATELY ROLL BACK CNG PRICES

BJP TO PROTEST ON 14 CNG STATIONS ON 10th JULY AND LAUNCH SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN AGAINST CNG PRICE HIKE 

The recent CNG price hike shows the non seriousness of the present Delhi Government about the increased burden on the common man of Delhi. After recent hike in the price petrol, diesel, cooking gas, VAT, service tax, stamp duty, registration duty, grocery, fruits, vegetables etc now the Government did not hesitate increased CNG prices last night. It has severely affected to the 10 lakh owner of CNG vehicles in the present time of price spiral. Auto Rickshaw Association has already started demanding to increase the Auto fare and if the fare is increased this will directly impact on the pocket of common man in entire Delhi. BJP will protest on 14 CNG Stations on 10th July and launch Signature Campaign against CNG price hike in Delhi. 

Addressing the press persons, Pradesh President Shri Vijender Gupta said that in the last 2 years CNG prices has been increased 7 times by the Government and now it 8th time another bigger hike of Rs. 2.90 per kg has been done by the Delhi Government. Now the CNG prices in Delhi will be at Rs. 38.35 per kg. On the directions of the Supreme Court of India, the uses of green fuel has been started in Delhi to reduce the highly air pollution in the capital. The recent Government report says the pollution in Delhi has declined and the quality of air is improved due to the uses of green fuel in Delhi. It is also important for the health of Asthma, Heart and Lung patients as well as for the common man residing in Delhi. Shri Gupta demanded from the Government of Delhi to immediate roll back increased CNG prices. 

Shri Gupta said instead of increasing green fuel prices, the Government should have reduced the prices so that more and more people should opt this fuel option which is best for our nature as well as human beings living on this earth and policy should have been framed to promote green fuel vehicles in the metropolitan cities which are densely populated but the Government policy has totally failed to promote CNG vehicles. It is surprising that despite the bigger claims by the Government only 256 CNG filling stations to feed 10 lakh CNG vehicles which would have been 1000 in Delhi. The Government has not taken a single step to increase the numbers of CNG gas fuel facility on the present petrol pumps or installation of new CNG filling stations. Everyday CNG vehicle owners wait for hours to take CNG on the filling stations but the Government is not at all concerned with the wastage of time of common man due to the failure of their policies. 

In fact the CNG is most economical and pollution free fuel available for the vehicles. On 1 kg of CNG, vehicle gives average of 15 km. At the cost Rs. 2.50 CNG vehicle covers nearly about 1km distance, petrol vehicle covers the same distance at the cost of about Rs. 7.00 and diesel covers at the cost of about Rs. 4.00 which is more expensive than green fuel. Due to cost consideration of the fuel, people prefer CNG vehicles more than the petrol and diesel vehicles.

TRADERS WILL GO ON INDEFINITE STRIKE IN DELHI AGAINST AMENDED VAT NOT WITHDRAWN IMMEDIATELY

Today before a Trader’s gathering at Town Hall of Chandni Chowk, BJP Delhi Pradesh President Shri Vijender Gupta addressed about 500 representatives of different Trade Associations all over Delhi and issue a warning to Delhi Government that if the amended VAT system is not withdrawn immediately, the traders will be compelled to call for an indefinite strike in Delhi in which about 5 lakh traders of different categories will participate. For this strike Delhi Government will be responsible. 

Shri Gupta further told that BJP remains alloys the front fighter to keep the interest of the traders and the public at large in Delhi and whenever the Traders Association approached BJP, the party stood firmly with them to save their interest and fight against Government whether it is the matter of excise or VAT etc. Now a day Sheila Government is declaring different development programs for the people of Delhi in one side and on the other side every other day trying to squeeze money from their pocket in the name of development. The example for recently are tariff hike electricity, proposed DMRC project, secret price hike proposed for water distribution in the name EPB, increasing luxury tax by 12.36%, present amendment in VAT collection etc. The important point remains that the style of autocratic rule in Delhi is evident because Chief Minister of Delhi neither likes to take up any issue with opposition parties (BJP) nor she consults the Leader of Opposition, nor she is ready to discuss the matter in Assembly. 

Today’s meeting was attending by namely S.Shri Kailash Gupta, Om Prakash Jain, Suresh Jindal, Prem Arora, Shyam Sunder Gupta, Om Kishan Gupta, Sanjeev Bajaj, Satwant Singh, Naresh Aggarwal etc. 

Shri Kailash Gupta who is the Convenor of BJP Traders Cell also addressed the gathering and said that Delhi Government is not sensitive to the basic issues of the people of Delhi. If the traders go on for an indefinite strike on the issue of VAT amendment by Delhi Government, almost 2 crores people of Delhi will suffer and Sheila Dikshit Government will be responsible for it. It is the loss of revenue or the suffering of people. Mistake of VAT amendment is very much destructive because for the reason of smallest blunder a fine of Rs. 50, 000 will be imposed on the trader and in default of payment instead of 5% the penalty as now being increased to 40% which is very much on the higher side. 2% return on VAT deposit through bank is also very much unrealistic because the normal experience of the people about refund of Income Tax is also very cumbersome. The traders demand that this amendment, notification should be withdrawn immediately by Delhi Government.

Conference of RWAs by BJP Delhi Pradesh on 4th August at Talkatora Indoor Stadium, New Delhi

Delhi BJP has invited about two thousand RWAs of Delhi to interact on the subject of increased tariff in electricity effected from 1st July and proposed PPP for water distribution in South Delhi areas like Sangam Vihar, Mehrauli, Vasant Kunj, Nangloi, Malviya Nagar etc. They will also discussed the consequential effect of hike in electricity in DMRC which proposed also another hike of 30% fare very soon, which has already been proposed by Delhi Govt. and approved by Union Urban Development Ministry. 

While declaring this forthcoming Conference, President, BJP Delhi Pradesh Shri Vijender Gupta has also informed that the Conference will be inaugurated by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Smt. Sushma Swaraj. This has become necessary in the present juncture who have greater participation of RWAs so that the final fight against Sheila Government can be fought and the Delhi can be saved. 

Shri Gupta also said that Smt. Sheila Dikshit is in power since 1998, but during the last 14 years she has created at atmosphere of autocratic rule and corrupt practices. The consequence of which is now evident that almost two crore population of Delhi are in the receiving end. The inflation is in peak and there is no sight of respite and people are apprehensive of further hike of the same in any form like the recent one of 12.36% service tax imposed on the public at Delhi. The PPP model would certainly lead the people in such a situation that they will be unable to get drops of water as has happened in the case of electricity privatisation and its ill effect witnessed during the last decade. In fact CM does not want that poor people & labour class should live in Delhi and this is her tacit agenda against the words she uttered some time back that the people from other States are creating problems in Delhi. 

With the privatisation of water distribution the people will also suffer with the financial burden in which they are already posed. The Sheila Government’s water supply system in Delhi has totally collapsed and people are suffering from various water borne diseases, because there is no quality check by DJB and it is actually by private operators whose water tankers are running here & there and the so called leaders of Congress Party are operating the water business in the shape of water packaging industry, bottling plant and tankers in collusion with DJB officials and charging huge amount of money from the poor people of those areas of unauthorised colonies, resettlement colonies & J.J. clusters. This is the development of Delhi which is claimed by C.M. of Delhi as a world class city.

unite to fight against water privatization--- Vijender Gupta

 Delhi BJP President Shri Vijender Gupta in a press release today appealed all the citizens of Delhi to unitedly oppose the privation of water supply after they faced serious problem of Electricity as a consequence of its privatisation. The Chief Minister of Delhi Smt. Shiela Dixit yesterday disclosed her tacit move of privatisation of water supply with no transparency. If the move is not resisted, the people of Delhi will strive in the days to come to fetch a pale of water. Shri Gupta declared with no uncertain terms that BJP in Delhi will oppose tooth and nail against the privatisation move of Delhi Govt. in Jal supply, with all powers in its command. 

Shri Gupta today announced while opening a BJP Office in the MCD Rohini Zone Chairman Shri Parvesh Wahi at Rohini Sector and addressed the gathering there. The present Shiela Govt has totally failed in providing the basic and essential facilities to the people of Delhi and to suppress her failure and corruption, she is declaring every kind of sops to the people of Delhi day in and day out. This is just a ploy to allure the people and it is proved as only paper announcement. He pointed the joint move of DJB and MCD to testify the pollution/contamination level of water of Delhi. And after the test it was proved beyond doubt that about 32% of water is full of such bacteria which is enough to subscribe to the health of the people with serious disease that could take the lives easily. 

He is astonished that the Govt. of Delhi has not been able to provide even clean water to the people even after remaining in power for last 14 years because of lack of proper planning, transparency and corruption. Shri Gupta has held the CM of Delhi Smt. Shiela Dixit is only and directly responsible being the Chairwoman of DJB for offering the people with maladies like Choelera, Dysentry, Maleria, Jaundice and other life-taking desease due to water born backteria and contamination thereby. She is also responsible for denial of water supply to millions of people living in the places like Samgam Vihar, Chirag Delhi, Nangloi etc. which is an essential need for any household. While giving a statistic he emphasised that water sample of 3166 places were obtained jointly by MCD and DJB upto 22.6.12 and after test 1203 were found very dangerous. Likewise again out of 1978 sample 636 were found totally unfit for drinking after test. In fact during 1988 while she took over the reins of Delhi as CM, she proposed this privatisation but could not succeed due to forceful resistance of BJP against the move. But since then she has been clandestinely trying to move forward for privatisation process. In this direction, in the name of PPP in water supply during the year 2000 she moved through appointing a consultant of World Bank in the name of 24X7 hours supply. She has already got the evaluation of all the DJB properties in Delhi through Price Water Coopers. The problem occurred when the Consultant of World Bank disclosed this move of Shiela Govt. in public and the tacit move came to light. During last Assembly election the matter erupted as a volcano and the move was stopped. But even after that now she is bent upon to give benefits to the private firms hundreds of crores of rupees as has happened in the case of three companies under the umbrella of DISCOM/DERC. Now the people of Nangloi, Meharuli, Malviya Nagar, Vasant Kunj and Sonia Vihar will never tolerate this privatisation even though she has declared these area as a pilot projects and has pumped Rs. 143 crores of rupees for each project. The people will further suffer with fast meter also on privatisation, to be installed like Electricity Meter by these private players like IRCON and DEGREMONT etc.

POWER CONSUMERS ARE BEING LOOTED BY VARIOUS METHODS - VIJENDER GUPTA

On completion of 10 years of privatisation of power, Delhi Government and DERC have shocked the power consumers by steep power tariff hike. The consumers are not in a position to tolerate to this shock in the time of price spiral. Government has provided rebate of Re.1 on each unit the persons consuming power upto 200 units. But the consumers may not be able to get benefit because only 10 percent consumers belong to this category. This way advantage of rebate of Re.1 provided by Delhi Government will not be available to 90 percent of the consumers. Even in J.J. Clusters more than 60 percent consumers consume more than 200 units. These people who are the poorest person may not get the benefit of rebate of Re.1. Sixty percent of consumers utilize more than 600 units of power. This is the middle class of the society. The tariff for this slab is the highest i.e. Rs.6.22 which is unjustified. This tariff is very much higher than the procurement price of power. Consumers are being looted by the power companies by various methods. Government and the DERC are working in favour of the power companies. Power supply has been privatised in Delhi which is gross injustice with the common man. 

The aforesaid information was given by Delhi Pradesh President Shri Vijender Gupta to the press persons today. He told that there are separate rates for the slabs of 200, 400, 600 and 1000 units. The companies have tactfully provided that if a person consuming 200 unit crosses this limit even by 1 unit then he will have to pay according to the rate applicable to slab 0-400. He will not avail the rebate applicable for 200 units. This way the consumer who utilizes even 1 unit more than 200 units will have to pay 2 times higher tariff. This is fraud with the consumers. Although it is said that power tariff has been increased by only 24 percent but the DERC has actually increased tariff by about 75 percent cleverly. On 26th August, 2011 Delhi Government and DERC had increased power tariff by 22 percent. In Delhi power tariff is higher than Gurgaon, Noida, Banglore and Chennai. In Gurgaon the power tariff is Rs. 4.50 per unit up to the slab of 400 units whereas in Delhi it is Rs. 5.19 per unit. In the capital power tariff is higher than the neighbouring areas for consumption up to 200 per unit whereas the power theft has gone down to 10 percent in Delhi. In neighbouring areas the power tariff is lower than Delhi in spite of the fact that there is power theft. The production of power companies have increased by only 18 percent by 26th June, 2012 but the power tariff has been increased by 75 percent. 

Fuel surcharge at the rate of 7 percent from January 2012, 4 percent to 14 percent from April 2012 is also being recovered. For the last one year, the power companies are serving notice to all the domestic consumers and commercial consumers that they should get their load increased. The domestic consumers should deposit 1200 rupees for increasing the power load. Those consumers who could not deposit the money, power were disconnected arbitrarily. It has been mentioned in the notice that in view of the maximum consumption of power during the last 1 year it has become necessary to increase the load. Hence, you should deposit Rs.1200 so that new meter and new cable from the meter to the main line may be installed. Nothing happened like this, the meter and the cable have not been replaced but the fixed charged in the bill has been increased to Rs. 100. Previously when the power load was 1 KV, the fixed charge was only Rs. 30. Now, in most of the houses power load is of 3 KV. Fix charge has been increased to Rs. 100 in every bill and the loot does not stop here. 

Power companies are adopting various methods to loot the people. The latest method is to fix separate rates of power for peak hours and non peak hours. At the time of privatization in the year 2002, all the three companies were given relief of Rs. 3450 crores. The assets of DVB of about 10 thousand crores were given to the power companies on lease of Re.1 only. Substandard meters have been installed in the houses of the consumers which record faster power consumption. Even at the time of test report, it was found that these meters are fast. The companies changed the meters in the houses but they did not change the meters of their own offices. What is the reason? Development fee was imposed on consumers. The power companies purchased electric equipments from their own sister companies at high rates and showed loss in their accounts. The High Court directed for audit of the accounts of the companies by CAG. Delhi cabinet approved the proposal of such audit but the required audit was never done. 

Delhi Government gave bail out package of 500 crore rupees for compensating the company where as the former Chairman of DERC Shri Bijender Singh had found that the power companies have earned profit of 5200 crore rupees. In view of this profit, Shri Singh had advised for 20 percent reduction in power tariff. After his retirement P.D. Sudhakar became the Chairman of DERC. Just after taking over, he increased power tariff by 22 percent on 26th August, 2011. At the time of privatisation, the Government had mentioned about many benefits of privatisation. The first benefit was that more than one company can supply power. There shall be competition due to which the rates shall go down and the consumers shall get the benefit. Power tariff has been increased four times so far. This way the tariff has become twice higher. Before privatization power theft was about 55 percent which has now gone down to 9-12 percent. After preventing power theft by 1 percent the companies earn profit of 50 crore rupees. This way the companies are earning 2250 crores rupees every month by preventing power theft. 

The companies do not show in their accounts that when and at what rate power was sold to neighbouring states. Companies are also earning profit by selling power to other states. Privatisation of power has become commercialization of power. DERC was constituted to protect the interest of the consumers. But this institution is only working in the interest of companies. Until the consumers shall not get opportunity to go to the courts they shall continue to be looted. The companies should also be brought under the purview of RTI so that the Information Commissioner may also exercise control. Due to privatisation not only the consumers of Delhi but of entire India are being looted. Government is mum. It is encouraging the loot of consumers.

Vijender Gupta strongly opposes recovery of additional Service Tax of about 27 thousand crores rupees by the Govt.

BJP Delhi Pradesh President Sh. Vijender Gupta has strongly opposed recovery of 27 thousand crore rupees as Service Tax from the people in the time of steep price spiral and demanded that the Govt. should immediately stop new taxes so that the people of the country may not feel more burden. 

It may be mentioned that the Delhi Govt. had for the first time imposed VAT on textile and CNG besides other commodities in the Budget 2012-13. BJP has strongly opposed it. The owners of CNG vehicles had also opposed VAT on it. Even the textile merchants were ready for agitation. The Govt. withdrew VAT on textile and CNG due to the movement of BJP but imposed Service Tax on new items which is being recovered even today and now it is being recovered from today. Coaching Institutes and Tanning Institutes have come in the preview of Service Tax. If education and training is brought under the preview of Service Tax than lakhs of poor people may not be able to get their children educated and trained due to which the standard of education will go down and the skilled youth will decrease which will adversely affect development of Delhi. 

Sh. Gupta told that the conditions are so bad that if any family goes to restaurant or hotel for lunch or dinner during holiday than used to pay 20% VAT and now this service has been brought under the Service Tax also. This way if any family goes for lunch or dinner in a restaurant or hotel than it will have to paid 33% as VAT and Service Tax which is growth in justice to the common man. 

He further told that imposing tax on luxury items may be justified but imposing service tax on the items of daily use of common man is not justified. In view of the interest of the people the Govt. should withdraw Service Tax or increased any tax on any item in the present Budget immediately. It may be mentioned that 60% items of total domestic product is within the preview of Service Tax. Previously Service Tax of 97 thousand crore rupees was being recovered which has now been increase to 1 lakh 24 thousand crore rupees. He also said that in the coming time the people of Delhi shall come under the heavy burden of taxes. Govt. should immediately withdraw this anti people decision in the time of price spiral.