After free water, Arvind Kejriwal moves to reduce power bills in Delhi

December 31, 2013

Arvind_Kejriwal4New Delhi, Dec 31: After fulfilling his party's promise of providing free supply of 700 litres of water everyday for Delhi households, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday initiated steps to reduce power bills by asking the three private power distribution companies to present their case on their likely audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

According to reports, Chief Minister has given time till Wednesday morning to the three major power distribution companies to file their replies in this regard.

Defying doctor's advice, an unwell Chief Minister Kejriwal also went to meet CAG Shashi Kant Sharma to discuss the issue before going into a cabinet meeting.

Kejriwal told reporters, “Delhi government is of the view that audit of these companies can be done. But under the provisions of law the three companies were being given the opportunity of being heard on the government audit of their finances.”

"They are being given time till tomorrow morning by which they will have to give their representations. The cabinet will meet in the evening," he told reporters before leaving for his meeting with the CAG.

At the cabinet meeting today, the issue of revising the power tariff may be discussed. The Chief Minister said in today's cabinet meeting, they would discuss issues relating to unauthorised colonies.

The ailing Chief Minister, who has been advised complete bed rest by the doctors, also tweeted, “Going to meet the CAG, to discuss possibility of an audit of the three power companies.”

“I believe we have 48 hours in hand so doing whatever we can to help people in this period, “ the Chief Minister's tweet said.

After the AAP government delivered on its promise of supplying 700 litres of free water everyday for Delhi households, expectations are running high whether the ruling party would be able to deliver on its promise of reducing the power tariff by 50 percent in the national capital.

Kejriwal on Monday delivered on the AAP's poll promise by announcing 20 kilo litres of free water a month to all metered households. The Congress, however, questioned the move, saying Kejriwal should ensure that every citizen of Delhi gets 700 litres of free water per day.

The government's decision, however, came with a rider that those consuming over this limit will have to pay as per tariff, enhanced by 10 percent, effective January 1.

The promise of 700 litres of free water to every Delhi household was made in the AAP poll manifesto.

Ever since Kejriwal formed AAP, he has been focusing his Delhi campaign on reducing power tariff and free water supply. Experts say that reducing electricity tariffs by 50 percent can only be done only if subsidies are doled out.

“It is unlikely that the utilities can bring down the electricity tariffs by 50 percent without government providing them with cash subsidy,” Debashish Mishra, Senior Director, Deloitte India said.

However, he added that there may be scope for further loss reduction in distribution, demand side management measures and cost optimisation in O&M (Operation & Maintenance).

He said that broadly the tariff is determined by four factors - existing operational efficiencies, capital and cost structures, power purchase agreements, and regulatory (assured and authorised) assets in the sector.

Electricity tariffs were revised in the Capital in July this year. Delhiites pay a minimum of Rs 3.90 per unit tariff.

AAP has said that it would seek complete statehood for Delhi, special audit of all electricity companies, regularisation of unauthorised colonies, stopping donations in private schools and improving working conditions of contract labour and lowly paid employees.

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News Network
February 21,2020

Pune/Mumbai, Feb 21: A BJP youth wing leader from Pune on Thursday submitted a complaint application to the police against AIMIM leader Waris Pathan for his controversial remarks made recently in Karnataka.

Pathan has claimed he has been quoted out of context.

Parismal Deshpande, a BJYM worker, submitted the written application at the Deccan Gymkhana police station, demading action against Pathan for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups and outraging religious feelings of a community.

Deshpande, in his complaint stated, that Pathan reportedly said "15 crore hai lekin 100 crore pe bhari hai' (We are 15 crore but we can dominate 100 crore).

"The statement by Pathan promotes violence and create a divide between two communities.

"Because of such statements, there are possibilities of atmosphere getting vitiated. Hence, he should be booked under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups, 295A (outraging religious feelings), and 504 (provoking breach of the peace)," Deshpande said in the complaint.

An officer from the Deccan police station confirmed receiving the application.

Meanwhile, in Mumbai, the BJP slammed Pathan.

The saffron party on Thursday tweeted @BJP4Maharashtra saying, "Waris Pathan, who are you threatening to? Shiv Sena led government may tolerate your comments; but BJP and people of Maharashtra will teach you a lesson that your hate- mongering speeches will be shut."

However, Pathan has issued a statement to the media, saying he has been quoted out of context.

"I hereby wish to state that the media reports on TV channels showing my statement made in the public meeting at Gulbarga five days back have totally quoted me out of context," Pathan claimed on late Thursday evening.

"I wish to reiterate that I can never say anything intentionally or unintentionally that hurts the sentiments of any caste, community or gender. I am a proud Indian and respects the plurality of this country," he said.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that nearly 1,25,000 Indians have returned from different countries under the Vande Bharat Mission.

He informed that 6,037 people returned to India from overseas on June 23.

"Vande Bharat continues to be a mission of hope and happiness for stranded and distressed Indians around the world. So far, nearly 125K Indians have come back on these evacuation flights and nearly 43K have flown out of India. Today (on Tuesday) 6,037 people returned from different countries," Puri said in a tweet.

As many as 2,50,087 Indian nationals stranded abroad have been repatriated since the beginning of Vande Bharat Mission last month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said last week.

The Vande Bharat Mission, which started from May 7 to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus pandemic, is in its third phase.
The recent phase commenced on June 11.

Under the third phase, India would have 550 flights including 191 feeder flights.

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Agencies
March 3,2020

Kashmir, Mar 3: Four days after the National Investigation Agency made a major breakthrough in the Pulwama terror attack case over a year after the bombing, arresting one person who had sheltered the suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar, the NIA on Tuesday arrested two more people in the case - a father-daughter duo - who had also provided shelter to the bomber, officials said.

The NIA also claimed that the video of the suicide bomber was also recorded at their residence and released by the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror group from Pakistan after the attack. An NIA spokesperson in Delhi said: "Two more persons have been arrested by the agency in the Pulwama terror attack case and they have been identified as Insha Jan, 23, and her father Tariq Ahmed Shah, 50, who works as a tipper driver."

The official said that the father-daughter duo have been arrested from Hakripora area in Pulwama for their involvement in the attack. The two were arrested on early Tuesday morning after senior officials of the NIA raided their house on Monday night.

A senior NIA official related to the probe told IANS: "The video of Dar, who attacked the CRPF convoy, was recorded at the home of the duo. And the same video was released soon after the Pulwama terror attack by the JeM terrorists from a Pakistani IP address."

He said, "The video was shared by them to their handlers in Pakistan."

The spokesperson further claimed that during the probe Tariq Ahmed Shah disclosed that his house in Hakripora area was used by Dar, Mohammad Umar Farooq, a Pakistani terrorist and IED maker, Kamran - another Pakistani terrorist (both were later killed in encounters with security forces), Sameer Ahmed Dar, a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist from Pulwama and Mohammad Ismail aka Ibrahim, a Pakistani terrorist.

The spokesperson said that Shah facilitated all the terrorists at his house for sheltering and for planning of the heinous attack on the CRPF convoy. He said Jan, daughter of Shah, facilitated the terrorists at their home and provided food and other logistics during their stay on more than 15 occasions for two to four days each time, in their house during the year 2018-2019.

"Initial interrogation has revealed that Jan was in constant touch with Farooq and was in communication with him over telephone and other social media applications," the spokesperson said. The fresh arrests of the two accused brings the total number of arrests in the case to three.

The arrests were made on the revelations of Shakir Bashir Magrey, who was arrested by the anti-terror probe agency on February 28. According to senior NIA officials, more arrests will be made in the coming days. Magrey, a resident of Hajibal, Kakapora in Pulwama district of Jammu & Kashmir, is an overground worker (OGW) of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

According to agency sources, Magrey allegedly provided shelter and other logistical assistance to the Pulwama suicide bomber. He was sent to 15 days' NIA custody by a special NIA court in Jammu & Kashmir on Friday. During interrogation, Magrey revealed that he had harboured Dar and Pakistan-based terrorist Mohammad Umar Farooq in his house from late 2018 till the attack in February 2019 and assisted them in the preparation of the Improvised Explosive Device (IED). His shop is located near Lethpora bridge, and as advised by Mohammad Umar, he started conducting reconnaissance of the movement of CRPF convoys on Jammu-Srinagar Highway in January 2019, and informed Mohammad Umar and Adil Ahmad Dar about it.

Magrey was also involved in modifying the Maruti Eeco car and fitting the IED into it in early February, 2019 and was introduced to Adil Ahmad Dar in mid-2018 by Mohammad Umar and he became a full-time OGW of JeM.

"During his initial interrogation, he disclosed that on several occasions, he collected and delivered arms, ammunition, cash and explosive material to JeM terrorists, including those involved in the Pulwama attack," the agency had said on February 28.

"During investigation, the make, model and number of the car used in the attack was quickly ascertained by NIA to be a Maruti Eeco through forensic examination of the tiny remnants of the car which were found at the spot during extended searches," the agency stated.

"This has been corroborated by accused Shakir Bashir Magrey. The explosives used in the attack were determined to be ammonium nitrate, nitro-glycerin and RDX, through forensic investigation," it said.

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