Dear Mr. Vohra Sir,
At the outset I wish to thank you for posting my earlier write ups in your Blog to spread awareness about why we are against Power Tariff Hike. Sir, it is unfortunate that due to a communication gap some confusion has taken place.
I wish to state that I have been mailing all the communications within the group that was actively presenting their Objections / Suggestions collectively to DERC. You may be aware that as a group we had made presentations in DERC on four points ie. Logical, Technical, Legal and Criminal. We had, through our mailing list invited everyone to participate in the meeting. In this meeting at Defence Colony Club we had devised the strategy and chose who all will lead on the above topics with others supporting.
Mr. Hementha Sharma was to present the Technical, Mr. Anil Sood was to lead on Legal front and I was entrusted to present Logical and Criminal part. We as a group did present and built public and media pressure and were hopeful of again getting DERC to reduce Tariff. We were surprised to note that DERC instead chose to depend on WPI / Inflation to be the reason to increase Tariffs, ignoring all our well argued submissions ....... as if on a cue from Mrs. Dikshit's statement before the Public Hearings.
Sir, during the course of Public Hearings many individuals, NGOs and RWAs contacted us giving support and valuable inputs. Sir, in the past two weeks I have myself attended many RWA meetings and the general sense of the public is to fight this unjust hike at all levels.
The one common point on which we all agree on is that to fight this we have to drop our personal affiliations and support all efforts different groups take. Now to your query, I wish to state that in the meeting called at the behest of Mr. Chetan Sharma, Mr. Ashok Bagga and Mr. P.K. Roy on 7-9-2011 in GK-II the final resolution was on three points ......
1. A one line letter asking the Councillors, MLAs and MPs to state whether they 'Support Residents in their fight against Power Tariff Hike .......... YES or NO and get it signed.
2. Hold Protest Marches to local BSES / NDPL offices involving different RWAs to spread awareness in local residents.
3. Start a civil disobedience movement and tell people not to pay 22% increased tariff.
This was the resolution at GK-II where Mr. Ghei was present and was ratified in a meeting in East Delhi where many RWAs from East Delhi were present and we as the group that collectively appeared before DERC were invited. This resolution has been supported by other groups also and I request you and your Group to also support it.
Yesterday, I had circulated a mail informing that we can make partial payments without fear of disconnection. Sir, not every one adhered to the call Gandhiji made but because of those who did everyone got freedom ....... not everyone went to Ramlila Grounds but everyone will benefit from a corruption free India. Like in all calls, people unwilling to or due to medical, educational or other reasons are unable to adhere to the call can be exempted ....... civil disobedience movements have to keep that in mind.
We as representatives of people have to come together for the cause. No group has primacy and no individual is a leader, I can speak on behalf of the Group that collectively made a common DERC presentation and those present in GK-II and East Delhi meetings. In no way we claim to be the sole voice of Dehi. Please feel free to call us whereever you wish and we will be more than happy to make a presentation of what we had placed before DERC and various other fora.
In the meanwhile different groups are free to adopt what ever strategy to get the message across and which group to support. However, it will be unfortunate if we are unable to come together for a common cause that affects every Resident. Sir, I hope I have managed to clear the confusion. As for your following questions ........
Can the RWAs take such a decision ? I think it depends on the credibility of the RWA ...... people are a lot wiser and have a way of knowing whats right.
If a consumer accepts this decision & his electricity connection is disconnected by Discoms, than who will take the responsibility to re connect it ? Sir, again in a Civil Disobedience Movement people volunteer and are individually responsible ..... this is not to shirk responsibility but to inform that there may be pain to get a gain. All those who courted arrest with ANNA did it for a cause and did not wait for team Anna to bail them out ..... and thats how movements become successful.
Warm Regards,
Rajiv Kakria
