Kejriwal now goes RTI way on power tariff hike

Taking the fight against the power tariff hike to the next level, India Against Corruption’s (IAC) Arvind Kejriwal filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with Delhi’s power regulator on Tuesday.

Taking the fight against the power tariff hike to the next level, India Against Corruption’s (IAC) Arvind Kejriwal filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with Delhi’s power regulator on Tuesday.

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"The application — filed at Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (DERC) office at Malviya Nagar — wants to find out if it’s true that the then DERC chairperson had drafted a tariff order in April-May 2010 recommending reduction in tariff, which was approved by the then chairperson and one member?" an IAC statement said.

Kejriwal has also requested that all files related to the subject and the correspondence between Delhi government and DERC during April 2010 and March 2011 be inspected. He also asked if the present DERC chairperson or any of his family members were related to the Tatas or Reliance (the two private operators that run Delhi's discoms), the statement added.

Soon after launching a yet-to-be-named political party, Kejriwal and his team had burnt power bills in protest against the power tariff hike. He had also questioned the Sheila Dikshit government's alleged refusal to implement an order to slash the power rate, which, IAC claimed, was suppressed by the government.

After reconnecting power supply, which was cut due to non-payment of inflated bills at a slum dweller's house in south Delhi, Kejriwal has now taken the RTI route.