Happy New Year 2014 !

Happy New Year 2014 !

Arvind Kejriwal - The new CM of Delhi !

कल, अरविंद केजरीवाल और उनकी टीम ने शपथ ले ली. यह तो सच है कि उन्होंने एक करिश्णा कर दिखाया है लेकिन उनके सामने चॅलेंजस भी कम नहीं हैं. 

700 ल्ट पानी फ्री कर देना तो शायद उनके लिए आसान हो सकता है लेकिन आती गर्मियो में जबकि दिल्ल्ली एक एक बूँद पानी के लिए तरस जाती है और जब पानी या तो आता ही नही है, या फिर नालियों का गंदा बदबू वाला पानी आपके नल्कोन से निकलता है, उसका इलाज जब तक नही होगा, तब तक लोगो को चुप कैसे करवाया जाएगा, यह एक बड़ी चुनौती होगी.

इसके साथ साथ बिजली का टॅरिफ 50% कम करने की बात है. इन बिजली कंपनीज़ का देल्ही सरकार के साथ एक समझौता हुआ था. अब अगर अरविंद उस समझौते में चेंजस कर के उनको काग के ऑडिट के तहत लाने की कोशिश भी करेंगे तो ये बिजली वाले पहले की तरह कोर्ट का रुख़ कर के स्टे लेने का पर्यास करेंगे.

यक़ीनन अरविंद की नीयत तो बिल्कुल सॉफ है और वो देल्ही के लोगों के लिए काफ़ी कुछ करना भी चाहेंगे लेकिन इन आड्वर्स हालातों का सामना करना भी एक बड़ी बात होगी.

Merry Christmas !

                     Children on their way to school to participate in Christmas celebrations in Patiala.

PTI Photo https://www.facebook.com/Outlookindia

700 Lt Free Water : NBT Delhi

CAG all set to audit three discoms

NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is ready to start audits of three joint venture power distribution companies (discoms), supplying power in the national Capital, with top officials in the federal auditor's office citing examples of similar exercises of private firms and public private partnership (PPP) ventures in the past.

Delhi has three discoms - BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL); BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) and North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL) - and in each the state government holds 49% share and the rest with private firms (51%).

A top CAG official expressed hope that with the Arvind Kejriwal regime willing to ask the federal auditor to examine the books of these companies, the state government may be able to convince the Delhi High Court to permit scrutiny of their accounts on the grounds that similar audits of private companies such as Reliance Industry Ltd's KG D-6 basin had been done in the recent past while another one is in progress. Besides RIL and other oil and gas companies, the CAG had audited several PPP projects in highways and infrastructure sector, including the Delhi airport.

Sources said one of the two private companies having majority share in discoms in Delhi have stopped paying the National Capital Territory (NCT) government share in the revenue it has been collecting. The arrears, on account of the government's share in the revenue with one such private company, have mounted to Rs 1,200 crore.

Audit is likely to reveal other discrepancies like total cash collection and how much it has been shown in the account books of these firms; billing cycle and if customers have been charged as per the actual tariff slabs applicable on monthly basis.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and CM-designate Arvind Kejriwal had earlier claimed that then Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chairman Brijender Singh had in 2010 recommended slashing of tariff by 23% based on his assessment that private companies were making profit as high as Rs 3,500 crore and all their claims of losses were allegedly fictitious.

The auditor, say CAG sources, would also look into certain policy matters where the Delhi government prevented its consumers from open access to choose which discoms to subscribe to. A similar option in Mumbai had led to one operator keeping its tariff 50% lower than its rival.

Kejriwal had also claimed during electioneering that tariffs for domestic consumers could actually be brought down by 50% as the discoms were allegedly fudging accounts by showing zero billing to big customers like the Delhi airport and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).

with thanks : Times of India : LINK

Low voltage for Arvind Kejriwal's power vow

A 50% cut in retail rates at one go a tall order, say experts, as the cost of buying electricity is tangibly real and high.

While Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party is set to take over as chief minister of Delhi, experts and industry alike say the poll promise of a 50 per cent cut in electricity prices seems far away.

Two listed private distribution utilities, Tata Power and Reliance Infrastructure, supply power in the capital city. R-Infra has  management control of BSES Rajdhani Power and BSES Yamuna Power.

These distribution entities say it is tough to decrease retail power rates. “The cost of power in Delhi has increased by 300 per cent since 2002, while the retail rate has increased by (only) 65-70 per cent. This has created a huge financial burden for all the private discoms in the city,” said a distributor who refused to be named.

The city’s power regulator had said earlier that the private discoms were facing as much as a Rs 19,500-crore revenue gap due to the difference between the price of the power they procure from generating companies and their retail rates. None of the companies responded officially to e-mail queries on the possibility of rate cuts.

Stock market analysts are wary of the consequences of the AAP taking charge. For, it had made corruption charges against Reliance Infrastructure-owned entities for allegedly artificially inflating the expenses. The stock of Tata Power fell by 1.7 per cent to Rs  89 in Monday’s trade; those of, while that of R-Infrastructure gained by 0.7 per cent to Rs 429.

Apart from other impacts, experts feel power rates could be reduced over time by reducing power procurement costs. The AAP has not specified any timeline on the rate reduction. However, a 50 per cent cut at a single go seems difficult.

Delhi’s discoms are short on internal generation. They procure power from West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir.

“Power tariffs (rates) have two components — power purchase costs and operational efficiency, and returns to the investor. It is possible to reduce power purchase costs as equity returns are fixed and operation and maintenance costs can be reduced by bringing in efficiency and value,” said Umesh Agarwal, associate director at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In Mumbai, the power purchase costs of R-Infra were reduced over time. “Reliance was buying expensive power from the market but now these (rates) have stabilised and not increased since,” said Agarwal.

Analysts suggest another way to reduce rates is if the government  takes a liberal view of own returns from the part-ownership it has of the private utilities. “The earnings of these utilities would anyway go to government coffers, so they could pass these on to the people,” said a power sector expert.

with thanks : Business Standard : LINK

From Bhagidari to AAP’s self-rule in cities

NEW DELHI: It was in January of 2000 that the capital was introduced to the concept of Bhagidari by the then first-time Congress government, under the leadership of chief minister Sheila Dikshit. The institution of a resident welfare association received official sanction.

Fifteen years later, the Congress government has left behind a legacy of 3500 associations registered under Bhagidari that are restricted to the planned areas of a city burgeoning with unplanned residential and commercial areas in its unauthorized settlements, resettlements and slums. The new AAP government now faces a big challenge as it would first have to reconcile the existing system with its objectives if it wants to introduce a participatory government model through mohalla sabhas.

According to the existing norms, the state government can spend developments funds only in planned and regularized areas through RWAs, market and industrial associations. It was to overcome this restriction and reinvent Bhagidari, that Congress - in a belated attempt to reach out to the angry aam aadmi - spoke of Bhagidari -II in its manifesto. It aims at linking associations from the areas out of the purview of the existing RWAs.

Even Kejriwal recognizes that reforms will require legal re-organization of the existing system. "There is widespread demand in Delhi for giving legal recognition to resident welfare associations. A draft Model Nagar Raj Bill was sent to all state governments by the Centre in which it was requested that they should make necessary amendments, using their intellectual discretion, and pass the Bill in their respective vidhan sabhas," says Kejriwal in his book, 'Swaraj'. He adds that while this is a big step by the central government to recognize the RWAs as a unit in the city, the draft falls short of vesting real powers in the RWAs.

"Civil society members have rejected the draft of the local government bill. Many prominent citizens ...have come up with a new draft for the local government bill which is being demanded by civil society," Kejirwal states. The amended draft says 3,000 individuals (voters) living in a specific locality of a city should be allowed to form an association. One representative should be chosen from the association of each locality with the help of the election commission.

Representatives of all associations of localities in one ward will form a committee. This committee will be headed by the ward councillor or MLA. All matters related to a locality must be managed by the association. They should take decisions through a voice vote and mutual consent of members of the ward. The ward committee must have independent revenue and hence should be empowered to collect taxes and get funds from corporation, state and central governments. The local association must have the power to summon government staff and contractors and stop their salaries or payments as a penalty.

with thanks : Times of India : LINK

Merry Christmas !

Merry Christmas !

Merry Christmas !