Open Letter to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal – What is going wrong in terms of Electricity !

6th June, 2016

Mr Arvind Kejriwal,

CM Delhi

Subject : ELECTRICITY, DERC, DISCOMs :

Dear Sir,

Our system has forced us to bear the Monopolistic practices of DISCOMs, as we don’t have any choice. We are forced to have a connection only from a specific service provider, at any RATE ( power tariff & regulatory assets ) they want, at any QUALITY ( fluctuations & low voltages ) they offer and at any QUANTITY ( outages ) they could give to the consumers and that too, in the absence of any CAG or RTI.

Please go through the Electricity Act as below and see, at how many places it talks about the competition as well promotion of competition :

http://www.cercind.gov.in/Act-with-amendment.pdf

THE ELECTRICITY ACT, 2003 [No.36 of 2003] [26th May, 2003] An Act to consolidate the laws relating to generation, transmission, distribution, trading and use of electricity and generally for taking measures conducive to development of electricity industry, promoting competition therein, protecting interest of consumers and supply of electricity to all areas, rationalization of electricity tariff, ensuring transparent policies regarding subsidies, promotion of efficient and environmentally benign policies, constitution of Central Electricity Authority, Regulatory Commissions and establishment of Appellate Tribunal and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Section 23. (Directions to licensees): If the Appropriate Commission is of the opinion that it is necessary or expedient so to do for maintaining the efficient supply, securing the equitable distribution of electricity and promoting competition, it may, byorder, provide for regulating supply, distribution, consumption or use thereof.

Section 60. (Market domination): The Appropriate Commission may issue such directions as it considers appropriate to a licensee or a generating company if such licensee or generating company enters into any agreement or abuses its dominant position or enters into a combination which is likely to cause or causes an adverse effect on competition in electricity industry.

Section 61. ( Tariff Regulations ) : (c) the factors which would encourage competition, efficiency, economical use of the resources, good performance and optimum investments;

Section 62. (Determination of tariff): Provided that in case of distribution of electricity in the same area by two or more distribution licensees, the Appropriate Commission may, for promoting competition among distribution licensees, fix only maximum ceiling of tariff for retail sale of electricity.

Section 79. (Functions of Central Commission): 2 (ii) promotion of competition, efficiency and economy in activities of the electricity industry;

Section 86. (Functions of State Commission): 2 (i) promotion of competition, efficiency and economy in activities of the electricity industry;

Section 131. (Vesting of property of Board in State Government): (5) A transfer scheme under this section may- (a) provide for the formation of subsidiaries, joint venture companies or other schemes of division, amalgamation, merger, reconstruction or arrangements which shall promote the profitability and viability of the resulting entity, ensure economic efficiency, encourage competition and protect consumer interests;

But in reality, there is no competition at all. The truth is that, our system has forced us to bear the Monopolistic practices of DISCOMs, as we don’t have any choice. We are forced to have a connection only from a specific service provider, at any RATE they want, at any QUALITY  they offer and at any QUANTITY they could give to the consumers and that too, in the absence of any CAG or RTI.

May i request you to please look into the above issue & do the needful for the benefit of Delhiites ?

With Best regards,

B S Vohra

Social Activist

www.RWABhagidari.com

RWABhagidari meet on the MCD Ward Delimitation & Property Tax - EDMC !

Dear Mr. Vohra, 

Kudos for your wonderful and fruitful meeting organised at Leela Hotel, which I had perforce to miss, as I lost my mobile phone somewhere in Gazipur when I talked to you. I was very keen but the loss of the phone disheartened me so much I was totally upset as I had all the numbers thereat! However, I got the report through your channel. Thanks for updating me always in all fronts. I am one of the rare admirers of your's feats and herculean efforts being made ceaselessly and constantly! What decisions had been taken by the Govt. agencies concerned are not known. All discussed but no decision taken, is the present scenario, perhaps. Kindly keep us informed the vital decisions taken on property tax, delimitation etc., particularly on payment of property tax front, as there is a lot of confusion about it. Since the final decision is not yet known, will they extend the date for final payment from June to July or 

August! I wonder!!

With best wishes and deep regards,

TK Balu

RWABhagidari meet on the MCD Ward Delimitation & Property Tax - EDMC !

Dear Vohra ji  -  Lots of claps to you and your team for organizing such an interesting and interactive session with our elected representatives - MLA, Mr S. K. Bagga, Councillor, Mrs Kalpna Jain and Chairman, Standing Committee EDMC, Mr Jitender Chaudhary at Hotel Leela Ambience on Wednesday, 1st June 2016, 05.30 pm.

People's  concerns such as, Delimitation of MCD wards and repercussions thereof, up gradation of colonies for the purpose of property tax, formation of mohalla sabhas by Delhi Govt. for carrying out development work needed in each area, etc. were discussed in detail.  Some queries raised by the audience were clarified.

Mr Vohra and some other members raised a concern that in stead of mohalla sabha, the existing RWAs which are registered and have been doing excellent residents' welfare work for a long time should be empowered to do the same work which the proposed mohalla sabhas are supposed to do.

However, I would like to suggest to Mr Vohra that in future when such meetings are organized, he should also invite MLA/Councillor from Laxmi Nagar side as well for a wider interaction.

General Manager of the Hotel made a nice pp presentation to promote the hotel.  The event was followed by high tea hosted by the Hotel. 

R. N. Gupta

Priyadarshini Vihar RWA

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Datsun redi - GO, for Fun, Freedom & Confidence !

A car at a low price with a great mileage, even though with a manual transmission, is worth as the cost of Petrol is continuously rising. Even in the month of May, price of Petrol was enhanced twice, significantly. It dents into the pocket of every one except those who have plenty of money.

The new entrant into the market is the Redi – Go from Datsun, Nissan. Though the official price announcement of the redi-Go has been scheduled on June 7, the Datsun India redi-Go is likely to be priced at Rs. 2,39,500 for the base variant which is more likely to shake the segment with the most competitive pricing. The price seems most competitive and attractive for the first time entrants into the four wheeler segment as it is suited to almost every budget.

The car is based on the CMF-A platform developed by Renault and Nissan. This is the same platform that also underpins Renault Kwid. Both the cars also share identical powertrain with same specifications.

The redi-Go is powered by a 799cc three-cylinder petrol motor that churns out 53bhp and a peak torque of 72Nm, mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. Both the cars will return a claimed fuel efficiency of 25.17kmpl. A mileage of 25.17 kmpl looks quite attractive as it’s pocket friendly for the entire middle class range of people, who want to shift from a two wheeler.

The new Datsun car will run on 13-inch wheels and will also come with an audio system that has radio, CD, MP3, USB and aux-in connectivity. These features again generate attraction amongst the new entrants as they can have all kinds of music, while on the redi-Go.

The redi-Go measures 3,429mm in length, 1,560mm in width and 1,541mm in height. With a tallboy stance, the redi-Go comes with a ground clearance of 185mm which is 5mm higher than the Renault Kwid. It’s tallboy stance also seems quite attractive as it gives a great feeling.

Another attraction of the redi-Go is it’s colours. The car will be sold in five colours — ruby red, white, silver, lime green, and grey. The redi-Go will be pitted against Maruti Alto 800, Hyundai Eon and Renault Kwid in India and will be produced at Renault-Nissan alliance plant at Oragadam, Chennai.

This car can attract the first time entrants into the car segment due to it’s Lowest price in the market, with it’s great mileage, with it’s tall boy stance, it’s beautiful colours as well it’s music system. With a unique design, best in class performance and fairly comfortable seats, the Datsun redi-Go surely is the strongest contender in this highly competitive budget hatchback segment I am very much sure that it will soon become the heart throb of millions.

Fun. Freedom. Confidence. The ultimate Urban Cross - Datsun redi-GO - the capability of a crossover with the convenience of a hatchback. Let me have it's Trial at Delhi.

RWABhagidari meet on the MCD Ward Delimitation & Property Tax - EDMC !

RWABhagidari meet was held at the Hotel Leela Ambience. Pleased to inform that edmc standing committee chairman Mr Jitender Choudhary has announced that property tax notification will be denotified on 7th june. Its a great victory for all the RWAs n MTAs

With best regards,

B S Vohra

with a Special thanks to the entire team of : 

Hotel Leela Ambience, Convention Hotel.

RWABhagidari meet on the MCD Ward Delimitation & Property Tax - EDMC !

SURVEY OF WORLD CITIES PUTS DELHI AT BOTTOM OF LIST : HT

NEW DELHI: The national capital is not “smart”, neither are financial capital Mumbai, information technology hub Bengaluru and eastern India’s biggest city Kolkata. They actually wallow at the bottom of a global livability survey of 181 cities.

The 2016 Cities in Motion Index (CIMI), prepared jointly by the Barcelona-based University of Navarrara’s IESE Business School and the Centre for Globalisation and Strategy, found Indian cities floundering on most parameters that defined a smart, livable city.

New Delhi was ranked 174, followed by Bengaluru at 176 and Kolkata at 179. Mumbai was slightly better at 167. Nigeria’s largest city Lagos and Pakistani trading port Karachi brought up the rear at 180 and 181.

Now, the top five most livable or “smartest” cities are New York, London, Paris, San Francisco and Boston.

The surveyors counted 10 parameters to make the report — economy, human capital, technology, environment, international outreach, governance, urban planning, public management, social cohesion, mobility and transportation.

With thanks : Hindustan Times

India leads world in ‘slavery’ : HT

SHAMEFUL More than 18 million in the country are trapped in practices that are considered modern-day slavery

From page 01 NEW DELHI: India has the largest population of modern slaves in the world with more than 18 million people trapped as bonded labourers, forced beggars, sex workers and child soldiers, a global survey report said on Monday.

The Global Slavery Index by human rights organisation Walk Free Foundation said the number was 1.4% of India’s population, the fourth highest among 167 countries with the largest proportion of slaves.

“Existing research suggests all forms of modern slavery continue to exist in India, including inter-generational bonded labour, forced child labour, commercial sexual exploitation, forced begging, forced recruitment into non-state ar med groups and forced marriage,” said Grace Forrest, co-founder of the Australia-based foundation.

The survey said an estimated 45.8 million people are living in modern slavery globally and 58% of them are concentrated in India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

The Gallup survey was conducted across 15 states and covered nearly 80% of India’s population, the foundation said.

The report coincided with the Centre unveiling a draft bill that envisages punishment for gangs involved in human trafficking and scrutiny of placement agencies, many of which are accused of forcing children into bonded labour and prostitution.

The Cabinet recently cleared proposals to “address new forms of bondage such as organised begging rings, forced prostitution and child labour”. India abolished bonded labour in 1976 but gangs continue to trap people from poor rural areas with the promise of better jobs. Most of them are sold into domestic work, prostitution, or to brick kilns, textile units and farms.

The foundation requested the Centre to frame a policy for private employers so that they keep a check on bonded labour in their supply chain, an issue repeatedly raised by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, who runs a campaign called Bachpan Bachao Andolan against child labour.

His organisation said on Monday the true test of the draft bill “will lie in ensuring time-bound prosecution and rehabilitation, and fixed accountability and stringent monitoring parameters for law enforcement agencies”.

The survey produced case studies to highlight individual cases, underpinning social and economic reasons behind this.

“This is an old disease in the village that if you are not able to pay off your debts you will have to work as a bonded labour in the field of a powerful person. My husband was employed far from the village so that he cannot run away,” the report quoted a woman as saying.

Another woman working as a domestic help said she was never paid wages and “in the name of debt, I was made a victim of sexual violence”. It said a skewed sex ratio in some parts of India “has fuelled trafficking of women for forced marriage”.

The report also highlighted the recruitment of child soldiers by militant groups active in several states, including Jammu and Kashmir, and Jharkhand, and the Northeast.

with thanks : Hindustan Times

MCD Ward Delimitation issue : POLITICS over PRAGMATISM : Rajiv Kakria

PREAMBLE: The question is, why have all attempts to streamline MCD come to naught? Doubling of Councillors and Delimitation in 2007 and Trifurcation of MCD in 2011 ...... were experiments carried out to achieve a POLITICAL STRANGLEHOLD RATHER THAN TO ACHIEVE EFFICIENCY.

The latest attempt at Delimitation of MCD Wards on the basis of Population is again aimed at Political Hold over the most Vulnerable section. No one is against development of deprived sections of the city but tilting the balance of Political Power on the basis of Population alone will create animosity amongst fellow citizens.

TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE NO SOCIAL / FINANCIAL AUDIT HAS EVER BEEN CARRIED OUT TO FIND OUT THE OUTCOME OF ALL PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTS ...... WE NEED ANSWERS.

1. CONTENTION: Issue of Bogus / Dual Voters is unresolved.

SOLUTION: Delimitation should be put on HOLD till EC convinces Citizens that there are no Bogus / Dual Voters. (Copy of Full CIC Order dated 13-01-15 to Anil Sood’s RTI attached) ...... Extract ...... “Appellant said that because of criterion that MP or Councillor’s recommendation substituting the proof of residence, there are huge number of bogus votes in Delhi constituency which has capacity of rendering the whole process of elections in Delhi into a farce.  The Election officers are trying to delay and deny the information instead of providing as he sought for. When an affidavit by elected members of Parliament or Municipal  Councillors could be the basis of giving a voter card, what action the government would take  in case one single person getting more than one voter card?  He said that answers to his questions would lead to detection of bogus voters and their elimination, which is highly essential to protect public interest and democratic process. 

The Commission finds huge public interest in the appellant’s RTI application which should have been answered long ago. It is surprising that the First Appellate Authority issued such an order as if it was without application of mind. In the context of the admission about mistakes and huge bogus votes in Delhi by Chief Electoral Officer of National Capital in a PIL before Delhi High Court, the problem appears to be more serious and complex. It is shocking to know that there are 58000 cases of wrong photo image, including that of a film star on a common man’s voter card, an in-depth inquiry into residential addresses with MP recommendation criterion might reveal more bogus votes. As there is a possibility of correction of voters list, the Commission recommends the respondent authority to examine the issue raised by the appellant and if that could be used to detect the bogus voter cards, such an initiative should be adopted immediately ....... “

2. CONTENTION: The status of Unauthorised Colonies and Encroachments on Public Land is Subjudice / Undetermined.

SOLUTION: Delimitation should be put on HOLD till the Status is Cleared by Supreme Court.                                                              

3. CONTENTION: Exponential Population Growth in some wards is not Natural and has A SKEWED MALE/FEMALE SEX RATIO. (Population chart of some wards attached)

SOLUTION: Investigate presence of large number of migrants who have obtained Voter Cards in Delhi while they continue to Vote in Native Panchayat Elections. A Panchayat / BPL / Ration Card is a Valid Identity Document in other states. The Law is clear that no citizen can Vote in two parts of a country. Start Awareness Drive and Prosecute those having Dual Domicile.

4. CONTENTION: MPD-2021 places a Legal Bar on number of Dwelling Units, Building Bye Laws and exponential growth in PLANNED DEVELOPED COLONIES, while there are NO SUCH CONTROLS over Villages / Unauthorised Colonies / JJ Clusters etc.

SOLUTION: Stop exploitation of Migrants for Vote Banks and CREATE LAWS FOR THEM TO AVAIL OF VARIOUS WELFARE PROGRAMMES, without being forced into seeking Duplicate Voter Cards.  (Introduce Green Card Concept)

5. CONTENTION: Population cannot be the only Criteria for Delimitation.

SOLUTION: A balance of Geographical Spread, Population, Tax Collection, Infrastructure etc must be given due weightage. Democracy does not mean Majoritarianism, if the same formula were to be applied in Assam / West Bengal / Bihar / UP etc, then many High Density Areas would get many more MLA Wards ....... if such Delimitation is not acceptable there, then why such need in Municipal Wards.

6. CONTENTION: Populism and Discriminatory deployment of funds will be the net outcome of Population Based Delimitation without first factoring in the above points. Areas with THREE COUNCILLORS WILL GET RUPEES 4.5 CRORES, whereas areas with 6 COUNCILLORS WILL GET DOUBLE THE FUNDS. Larger Geographical spread requires more funds due to Longer/Wider Road Network, Larger Parks, more Street lights, larger surface area for Sanitation, larger Network of Drains for desilting etc and such areas pay higher Taxes.

SOLUTION: Wide discussion with RWAs, Sociologists and Weeding out Dual Voters must be ensured before delimitation.

7. CONTENTION: Discriminatory towards Law Abiding Tax Payers in Planned Developed Colonies who are already disillusioned with Vote Bank Politics.

SOLUTION: Create Constituencies that balance Equitable Social Development, by ensuring franchise to Genuine Stake Holders and not freebees seeking Captive Voters.

CHETNA (Anil Sood and I) had earlier filed a PIL to end Boothwise declaration of election results, so that absolute secrecy of Vote is maintained to AVOID EXPLOITATION OF POOR AND RICH ALIKE. That is when we had discovered many loopholes in the process of making Voter Cards for Political Stranglehold.

Friends please forward this to all on your mailing list and all those who believe in Democracy and not Mobocracy. Please add your suggestions for a comprehensive proposal.

Please look up attachments.

 

Regards,

Rajiv Kakria

MCD Ward Delimitation issue !

Thank you very much for raising the issue. We the residents of Navrachna appartment in East arjun Nagar are worst sufferer. There are 5 Appartments in East Arjun Ngar, Anupam Appartment, Jeevam Bima appartment, Navrachna appartment, Chitrakoot Appartment, nad last Hans Appartment. During Last delimitation Navrachna and Jeevan Bima appartment Are put under Ward No 225 and other three in Ward No 226. Than Started problems for us at Navrachna as all the maintainance was under Ward No 226 than fight started that our  appartments are in Ward No 225. For every small work we have to file complaint at Public Grievance Monitoring System, NoW we Demand that all the five appartment should be put either under Ward No 225 or ward No 226 do not put Navrachna appartment  Sandwithed between other three appartments With Regard Vohra Ji.

Chander Mohan, 

Navrachna appartment 

East Arjun Nagar 

Delhi-110032