How Kejriwal is cheating Delhi with power waiver
Amidst the exhilaration and excitement in the country due to Modi's successive speeches at the Red Fort and in Dubai, many of us missed an important announcement, which should have ideally, got more attention. In a highly controversial move, the AAP government had decided to waive off all complaints related to electricity bill payments and withdraw criminal cases.
The plaints regarding alleged inflated bills, defective metres, penalties imposed and theft cases will be resolved soon and all criminal and civil proceedings related to electricity disputes withdrawn. The government would launch a one-time settlement scheme to provide relief to the consumers, according to a report by Financial Express.
The domestic consumers, with load up to 11KW, who are booked for direct theft of electricity, will have two-thirds of outstanding amount waived off and late payment surcharge will also be waived off when they come to settle their dues. In the case of metre tampering, the small and medium domestic commercial consumers booked will be allowed a wavier of 100 percent in the late payment surcharge and two-thirds of their outstanding dues during their final settlement with power companies.
AAP's victory in Delhi has been attributed to the class divide. 60 per cent of Delhi's population earns less than Rs 13,500 per month. While Delhi's economic indicators are some of the best in the country, the rising disenchantment of the vast underclass struck a chord with Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) image and voted for them.
The several election promises made by AAP were extremely populist in nature and primarily directed towards the lower stratum of the society.
However, to me, this decision appears more like a cover up to please the public and compensate for the recent failures of his government, such as the inability to clear tonnes of garbage on streets, failure to ensure 700 litres of water daily in colonies, constant tussles with the Centre over administration issues, et al.
Here are three reasons why the decision to waive off electricity bills and withdraw criminal complaints is grossly unjustified:
1. Injustice to honest customers: It is unjustified to many consumers who have always paid electricity bills in a timely manner without defaulting ever. Being a youngster, my several friends who live on meagre salaries have always paid the bills on time. Additionally, this decision proves that Kejriwal can go to any extent to please his vote banks, something he always accuses other parties of doing.
2. Promoting power theft: Withdrawal of criminal cases against defaulters is a big blunder, which will set a dangerous precedent as it will boost the morale of defaulters and further give them enthuse them to not pay bills on time, which will be detrimental in the long run.
3. Misuse of public money: The pending dues will obviously be adjusted from taxpayers' money - a blatant misuse of an average honest aam aadmi, who pays taxes and bills on time. In simpler words, Kejriwal is using taxpayers' money to justify corruption. Holding a referendum for public related decisions is Kejriwal's creation, and should have been used in this matter as well.
Ironically, the decision goes against the philosophy of Kejriwal's fight against the power companies and accusing them of corruption, the only difference here being power thieves and dishonest citizens are using honest taxpayers' money to enjoy free power.
The recent CAG audit report (which was a pet promise of AAP) which revealed that power companies in Delhi inflated dues by almost Rs 8,000 crore is expected to go in Kejriwal's favour. If he does decide to take the report to its logical end, which is not likely given his fickleness, then there might be two options - one, either lower tariffs further using the recovery money (if recovered, depends on legal proceedings) to subsidise further and two, keep tariffs the same and use money from discoms to manage their yearly electricity subsidy of Rs 1,427 crore.
An analysis done by data journalism portal IndiaSpend showed that post subsidy, power in Delhi is already the cheapest among all metros in Delhi.
A couple of years back, during his anti-corruption campaign against the Congress, Kejriwal asking customers not to pay bills claiming they were inflated (proved true by the CAG report) created a furore. While one can argue that power companies indeed cheated customers and charged more, going against the law and indulging in unlawful activities is wrong.
It can be compared to justifying not paying taxes because a minister has been accused of corruption or convicted in a scam. Fundamental rights and duties go hand in hand.
If we are indeed concerned about scams and corruption, we must take the legal route and fight for justice as many activists do - as did Kejriwal. However, waiving off defaulters' bills and pardoning power thieves will only promote vigilantism and boost their morale. This will further alienate the middle and upper classes, who were always skeptical of Kejriwal as very few of his election promises catered to them, and widen the class divide in Delhi.
One can definitely be sympathetic to the city's lower class, who toil hard to earn their livelihoods. However, using my hard earned money to pay someone else's electricity bill is something that should be strongly protested against.