Delhi Headed for a MAJORITARIAN DELIMITATION - Should that be a Cause for Concern ?????

Dear Friends,

Delimitation of Municipal Wards based on Population Density may at first glance seem logical and equitable but it may have its own pitfalls.

Delhi State Election Commission (SEC) is redrafting Municipal Wards, I do not know how many citizens are aware of it and has the SEC tried to involve various stakeholders ?????

I know for a fact that Politicians are taking keen interest in how the Wards are being Re-organised, after all some big names were Orphaned when the exercise was last undertaken for MLA constituencies. Politicians will look at their limited interests based on Vote Banks and Winnability.

I am no expert but wish to FLAG A FEW CONCERNS, based on my reading of Population Density Based Delimitation ....... EXAMPLES - North Eastern States ...... with so few MPs NE has remained deprived; Uttar Pradesh ..... Uttrakhand had to be carved out as the Population based Delimitation kept the low density Hill people deprived; likewise Bihar and Madhey Pradesh etc.

Even in J&K the Valley gets undue advantage, Ladhak that has a huge Geographical Spread, being the poor cousin with little or no say in the Power Calculus or Funds.

Delhi SEC is Reorganising Municipal Wards into 45,000 to 50,000 Voters per ward. This puts Plotted Colonies with a larger Geographical Spread at a huge disadvantage vis Unauthorised Colonies that have high Population Density.

For Example, GK Constituency may end up with Three Wards against the present Four, whereas Sangam Vihar may end up with Seven Wards instead of the present Four.

As it is, most Posh Colonies have densely populated Villages and Slums attached to them. Out-numbered slowly neglect is turning Posh areas into slums with no significant improvement noticed in the slums. The needs of the various types of colonies are vastly different ....... Delimitation should keep keep Category of Colonies in mind while carving out Wards ..... and not just consider Population as the only parameter.

Populism has taken center-stage in the drafting of Delhi's Master Plan, with Majoritarian Delimitation, VOICE OF DDA & PLOTTED COLONIES will further be curtailed ...... for example with a vast majority in the house, MCD decides to give Vending Rights on all Public Land ????? 

A balanced Equated Formula needs to be worked out taking into consideration the Geographical Spread and Density so that there is equitable distribution of resources and Majoritarianism does not get undue advantage.

I have posted this at the risk of being labeled elitist ..... but keeping quiet has made SUCKERS OF TAX-PAYERS.

Warm Regards,

Rajiv Kakria

The ODD Uber Surge Pricing ..... Auto Wala Kare toh Character Dheela ?????

CURB SURGE FLEECING ....... INTRODUCE UNIFORM PRICING

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Dear Friends,

Today is the last day of the ODD / EVEN Formula ....... Congratulations Delhites for making it a Success.

I have ODD Numbered Cars so on EVEN days I tried different options ....... Car Pooling, Car Swapping, Auto and Finally Uber ......

We talk a lot about the FLEECING AUTOS asking for double the Fare, but my experience with UBER WAS SHOCKING ....... I downloaded the App .......... to my surprise the rates kept changing through the day.

The above Photographs are SCREEN SHOTS from my phone at my residence taken at 12:07 pm the Minimum Price @ 1.7X is Rs. 212.50 and later at 6:49 pm @ 3.9X was Rs. 487.50.

UBER has developed this novel idea of SURGE PRICING and fares keep changing based on Supply and demand. Through the day the rates changed from Minimum 1.3X to 2.8X to 3.9X on all kinds of rides UberGo, UberX and UberXL.

Uber Kare toh ooh la la ....... Auto Wala Kare toh Character Dheela ?????

Mr. Kejriwal, in your review please ensure, TO MAKE ODD / EVEN FORMULA A SUCCESS ...... CURB SURGE FLEECING,  Introduce Uniform Pricing.

Warm Regards,

Rajiv Kakria

Powering banks to collect electricity bills in Delhi - Mohalla Samities

Dear Mr. Vohra ji,

I must admit and compliment you on disseminating information from all fronts which is very useful and update what all happening around in East Delhi and thereby enlighten as well on all such vital matters. But while doing so, you should also invite comments of the RWAs etc. on all such vital issues so that you could present a better picture to the agencies concerned and get to know the feelings of the people to share with them! Your from address in all mails say: 'noreply'! People who are not very much conversant with 'facebook', 'twitter; etc., particularly senior citizens like me, unlike you as you are always energetic, enthusiastic and ever-ready to fight against 'unjust' being done, may continue to be permitted to express and share their views through e-mail, as hithertofore!

As regards 'powering banks to collect electricity bills in Delhi, I would like to inform you that our Society in Anand Vihar has made arrangements in its office by keeping 'Drop Boxes' for all such payments, be electricity, water, MTNL bills and IGL where the residents in Anand Vihar, sometimes the residents of neighbouring colonies as well take advantage of this facility to put their bills in the respective 'drop boxes' which are cleared periodically by the messengers nominated for the purpose by the said agencies which we find very useful, apart from 'payments on line' to them. Hence the RWAs in different colonies could also similarly help the people in their respective colonies by typing up for such arrangements with the agencies concerned, which will help them a lot!! Besides such agencies have also a system of depositing a fixed amount (based on the average of their bills) with them for deducting the amount of the bills regularly. You will be heartening to know that such agencies do also payment of interest on the remaining balance amount with them from time to time. 

To be in tune with the time - promoting 'digital India' etc. - we must also encourage the residents to resort to such aforesaid facilities for payment of bills. In fact with the passage of time cash payment of various bills at the counters will drastically reduce with the availability of credit and debit cards etc. issued by the banks etc. and carrying of cash with the people for such payments will gradually vane!!

Incidentally, may I remind you that we had been requesting your forum to collate the grievances of residents through their respective RWAs, which are 'common' in nature and present them to the authorities concerned and follow them up too till they are resolved to the satisfaction of the RWAs. We also understand that the Govt. of Delhi is also undertaking an exercise (fruitful and admirable and novel) to contact the local people concerned in 'Mohallas' to frame its forthcoming budget by making provisions for the same. The Govt. is engaging their AAP volunteers in various Mohallas for the purpose and making a financial provision too for undertaking some small works in the colonies to meet their long standing grievances! Can you throw some light on such vital issues and educate the RWAs in this respect to be prepared for the same, which will be found very useful!

Suffice to say thank you once again and pray to the Almighty to give all the strength and sinews to continue to do your present yeoman service to the community at large and bless you with all success in your earnest endeavours of which all of us can be proud of!!!

With deep regards,

TK Balu/Anand Vihar

Row over discoms CAG audit; SC to hear plea of NGO on Jan 18

New Delhi, Jan 8 (PTI) The Supreme Court would hear on January 18 a plea of an NGO filed against a High Court verdict quashing Delhi governments 2014 order asking the CAG to audit the accounts of three private power distribution companies.

The court deferred the crucial hearing after the counsel appearing for Delhi government and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India said that their appeals against the High Court verdict are in the process of being filed and hence, it would be proper to hear all of them together.

"We will hear all of them on January 18," a bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar said.

The court was hearing the appeal of NGO, United RWAs Joint Action (URJA), filed through lawyer Prashant Bhushan, against dismissal of his PIL by the High Court. It had sought an audit of the discoms accounts by the CAG.

The High Court had termed as "populist" the decision of the AAP government to have CAG audit of discoms -- Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL), BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd, which supply power in Delhi.

There can be no other audit by CAG at the instance of the state government when regulatory body, Delhi Electric Regulatory Commission, is already there to audit the accounts of discoms, it had said.

"Such populist measures without considering the ultimate advantage thereof, not only end up being contrary to public interest but also put unnecessary burden on the courts," the High Court had said.

with thanks : IndiaToday : LINK : for detailed report.

Odd Even : What you have to say ?

Powering banks to collect electricity bills in Delhi

Delhi Govt is likely to issue a Notification via DERC, instructing, that all the cash payments of Electricity Bills, will now onwards be made at the Banks only and not at the Discom's counters. Moreover, the limit will be enhanced to Rs 20,000 from the present Rs 4,000.

It's indeed a welcome step as it will make a check on the total collections of Delhi Discoms. The only problem is that the Banks in Delhi are already overcrowded and the Discom consumers will make the things a bit more difficult. Hence the Banks must make suitable arrangements to avoid any chaos and any inconvenience to their own customers. 

It will be better, if the Banks could open their extension collection counters at various DISCOM offices to avoid any inconvenience.

B S Vohra

East Delhi RWAs Joint Front

www.RWABhagidari.com 

Powering banks to collect electricity bills

DERC to permit consumers to make cash payment through banks

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) is all set to approve the proposal of the Aam Aadmi Party government which would make it mandatory for consumers to make cash payments for electricity bills only through banks.

Besides, the power regulator is also planning to increase the limit of cash payment from Rs. 4000 to Rs. 20,000.

Sources in the commission confirmed to The Hindu that the power regulator is going to issue an order in this regard within a week’s time.

“The scheme would not only include public sector banks but others also. An order would be rolled out soon,” said an official. The Delhi government had submitted its proposal to change the mode of cash payment for electricity bills in December last year after which the DERC has had at least two meetings with the stakeholders in this regard.

Welcoming the news, Delhi’s Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) said it was a long pending demand that has “finally been heard”. Rajiv Kakria of GK-I RWA, who had first floated the proposal said, “presently discoms are solely responsible for collecting power bills in their office, both in cash and cheques. This needs to be stopped immediately as there is no transparency in the accounts of these power utilities.” The order will remove any loophole that the discoms might use for concealing their profits, he added.

The government drafted the proposal after a group of RWAs met Chief Minister Arvid Kejriwal and urged him to take up the matter. The move assumes significance as only recently the Delhi High Court had stayed the CAG audit on discoms stating that only the DERC was authorised to conduct audits of the private distribution companies.

The power regulator is also planning to increase the limit of cash payment from Rs. 4000 to Rs. 20,000.

with thanks : The Hindu : LINK

Discoms will have to buy electricity generated from waste : HT

In a move aimed at making our cities clean by way of better trash management, the government is set to make it mandatory for power distribution companies to buy 100% of electricity generated from municipal solid waste.

The power ministry has finalised a cabinet note to amend the electricity act 2003 and incorporate this provision among others. “The proposal will come up for cabinet approval shortly,” said a government official. The act as of now provides for purchase of electricity from only two renewable energy sources — wind and solar.

Currently, only 23% of municipal waste — which includes household and commercial garbage and construction debris — produced in a day is processed or properly disposed of. India generates 24 MW (mega watts) of power from such waste at four waste-to-energy plants with a capacity of 41 MW. But it has the potential to generate 500 MW.

Waste-to-energy is currently economically unviable due to high generation costs, which discourage private players from setting up such plants.

But the government hopes the amended law will change all this. “The Centre has already committed a 20% grant for solid waste management projects under the Swachh Bharat Mission. The move mandating discoms to purchase 100% power will incentivise more developers to set up such plants,” said a government official.

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has recently fixed a tariff of Rs 7.04 per unit for power derived from municipal solid waste. “Municipal corporations across the country will provide the land to set up such plants and the waste to run them,” another official said.

With thanks : Hindustan Tmes : LINK : for detailed report.

#Pathankot #PathankotAttack

पठानकोट के शहीदों को हमारा सलाम. 

लेकिन इन के परिवारों को 5 लाख का मुआवज़ा देकर, बादल सरकार आख़िर क्या जताना चाहती है ?

Happy New Year 2016

Wishing you a Green & Non Polluted Delhi : B S Vohra