Power supply of Delhi govt building housing skill centre cut over pending bills

Delhi's Lighthouse Skill Centre lost electricity over ₹3 lakh in unpaid bills, disrupting training for over 1,000 students and affecting a nearby shelter.

The Delhi government’s ‘Lighthouse Skill Centre’, which was created two years ago to provide job skill training for young men and women, had its electricity supply disconnected on February 9 due to pending bills of ₹3 lakh.

A woman uses her phone’s flashlight to practice sewing at the centre on Friday. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

The building, located at Turkman Gate in Matia Mahal, is owned by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), which two years ago leased the space to the Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University (DSEU)-affiliated Lighthouse Communities Foundation, an NGO that offers skill development programmes to underprivileged youth.

DUSIB did not respond to requests for a comment.

The centre offers various skill training courses such as office management, beauty and wellness, and stitching. According to the foundation, in 2023-24, more than 1,000 students enrolled at the centre and at least 300 have secured jobs through various training programmes.

“For the past week there has been no electricity here which has halted our studies. We are unable to use our systems,” said a 22-year-old woman who is enrolled in the centre’s office management course, requesting anonymity.

Another student said, “With no electricity there is no water connection here. Even if we come for offline classes, we can’t use the washrooms.” The building requires power supply for the water supply motor.

A third student said, “Our classes for the makeup course take place in a studio in an upper storey of the centre. But the building is extremely dark inside, even during the day. To climb the stairs to reach our classes, we have to use our phone torches. We need electricity for our hairstyling lessons, but all that has stopped in the past several days.”

The building also houses a DUSIB-run night shelter for men which has 50 beds. The caretaker of the shelter home said that without electricity, there is no water supply, and no action has been taken despite DUSIB being informed about the situation. “We are homeless people. there has been no water here for almost a week,” said one of the night shelter’s denizens.

Suniel Kumar Aledia, executive director of the Centre for Holistic Development, an NGO that works for homeless people, said, “The centre and shelter home are for the underprivileged people, and this electricity cut is severely going to affect them, so we urge the authorities to take immediate measures to restore electricity.”