Power Outages : B S Vohra : Hindustan Times

Power bills to go up for next three months : Hindustan Times

There's no escaping the price monster.

Starting February 1, you'll have to pay more for power for the next three months as the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission has approved provisional 3% and 1.5% power purchase cost adjustment charges (PPA) for BSES and TPDDL areas, respectively, for this period. 

So, if you live in south and east Delhi (BSES areas) and consume 400 units a month, your bill will rise from Rs. 1,840 to Rs. 1,895.20. In west or north Delhi (TPDDL areas), it will go up to Rs. 1,867.60. 

Not a big hike. But with new tariffs for 2013 to be out in the next few months, there will be no relief.

The distribution companies - Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd, BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd - had earlier this month submitted account statements on power purchased in October-December and sought 2.80%, 7.44% and 9.1% increase in electricity charges, respectively, as PPA, officials said.

"They've become dictators and have been increasing power bills every few months. The government doesn't care about the people. They plan to increase tariffs this year too," said BS Vohra of the East Delhi RWAs Joint Front.

with thanks : Hindustan Times : LINK

Hindustan Times : B S Vohra

Hindustan Times

Delhi, Haryana battle it out : Hindustan Times

Delhi cries ‘foul’, says Haryana has denied it water for second consecutive day. Haryana dismisses claim, says it supplied promised amount.

NEW DELHI:

As the water supply situation remained more or less the same on Thursday, the Delhi government has claimed that Haryana’s ‘foul’ act of curtailing water for the second consecutive day will result in a shortage of 30 million gallons per day (MGD) at the Wazirabad Treatment Plant (WTP) .

The shortage is likely to affect supply to west, north, New Delhi and the Walled City areas on Friday. Haryana, on the other hand, has rubbished Delhi’s claim and said it supplied the necessary amount of water.

The situation on Thursday — a day after the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) had cried hoarse over getting less water — was slightly better off compared to the previous two days, except for some colonies from west Delhi.

Mahesh Tak from Dwarka sector 10 said, “We are getting water only for about 20-25 minutes, five days a week.”

But other areas were slightly better off. Saroj Rana from Shalimar Bagh, in northwest Delhi, said, “There was water supply today but it was less than usual.”

Echoed BS Vohra, president of East Delhi RWA Joint Front, “Several colonies in east Delhi such as Azad Nagar, Ram Nagar witnessed disrupted water supply today.”

“This is the second foul (play) by Haryana on waterfront after curtailment of water for Haiderpur plant resulting in short production of water by 15 MGD. In all, less production by 45 MGD in Delhi would leave most of people thirsty,” a government statement said.

Haryana has claimed the pond at the Haidepur WTP that had a capacity of 425 cusecs got 425 cusecs of water. “The pond at Wazirabad with a capacity of 210 MGD was filled with 210 MGD,” said Harmail Singh, engineer-inchief, Haryana Irrigation. “These are entries from DJB’s log book, checked by our engineers, who went to both Haiderpur and Wazirabad,” he added.

The areas likely to be affected are: Patel Nagar, Moti Nagar, Kirti Nagar, Narela, Bawana, Wazirabad, Transport Nagar localities, areas north of Raj Path and the old Delhi localities.      

with thanks : HINDUSTAN TIMES : Link

Roads in a pathetic condition

Though most roads in east Delhi roads were widened recently, they are back to square one. The reason is the absence of footpaths or sidewalks, encroachment by makeshift vendors, extension of the existing shops and illegal roadside parking that is causing congestion. The exercise of providing smooth roads, wide pavements and dedicated cycle tracks seems to have become futile.

The joint commissioner of police (traffic), Satyendra Garg took a serious note of the bad condition of roads in a recent meeting with traffic police officers and instructed them to ensure smooth traffic flow, remove roadside encroachers and prosecute violators of traffic rules for better management.

The instructions are yet to be taken seriously by the traffic cops, as the roads are still in a mess with encroachers and haphazard parking. There are no signs that the present encroachment of busy roads and the traffic situation will improve soon. The main link roads in east Delhi such as road no 102, Dallupura Road, Swami Dayanand Road, Vikas Marg, Yamuna Vihar Road and Narwana Road in IP Extension are also the most encroached.

Says BS Vohra, a resident of Krishna Nagar, “Roads are meant for the movement of vehicles. But here, the roads are used as a market, parking lot and shops. The Krishna Nagar and Geeta Colony roads, the main connecting roads to ITO and nearby colonies are one such example. During rush hours, it is difficult to drive on these roads.” Says Parveen Sharma of Naveen Shahdara, “If encroachers are allowed to continue, soon they will grab major road space and traffic movement will be restricted to a narrow strip.” “The traffic department has been removing roadside auto repair shops and illegal parking. We have impounded several vehicles for violation,” said Amrik Singh, assistant commissioner of police (traffic), east.

with thanks : Hindustan Times : LINK

PWD Repairs : B S Vohra

B S Vohra in Hindustan Times

A little ink on your finger does count, Delhiites told

Democracy has a reason to cheer in Delhi. Laggard voters are being pushed hard and motivated to come out of their houses on April 15 and exercise their franchise in the Municipal polls. Move over the usual suspects, the NGOs or netas, Resident's Welfare Associations have taken the lead in motivating voters in their respective areas, telling them that they could make a difference with their vote. To make them realise the worth of push of a button on polling day, RWAs in the city have been organising mini marathons, painting banner competitions, running campaigns on the internet and even going from door to door to ensure a better turnout.

In 2007 municipal elections, Delhi had recorded a turnout of 42.78%. RWAs are hoping that it would rise substantially this year.

A south Delhi RWA had launched a campaign called 'Delhi Come out and Vote' to raise awareness about the elections and how it affects the common man. It is pertinent to note here that the posh south Delhi had, in particular, witnessed a dismal response during the last MCD election held in 2007. Areas such as Vasant Kunj, Vasant Vihar and Andrews Ganj had recorded a voter turnout of less than 30%.

As part of the campaign poster-making competitions, on the theme of municipal elections, had been organised in various parts of the city such as Lodhi Garden, India Gate and Delhi University. The grand finale of this awareness campaign will be organised in the form of a mini marathon at National Stadium on Friday.

Another organisation, United Residents Joint Action (URJA) — an umbrella body of RWA's across the city — had also specially designed a poster urging Delhiites to come out and vote in large numbers. The Delhi State Election Commission had given its consent to the RWAs for putting such posters across the city.

The RWAs will also distribute pamphlets in various municipal wards, urging the people to exercise their franchise.

"We have been asked to provide voters all assistance in locating their names in the voter list and polling booths. Neighbourhood voter associations will be formed to ensure that people could feel motivated to go out and vote," said Ashutosh Dixit, member of People's Action, the parent body of URJA.

Focussing mainly on east Delhi, a number of RWAs from the area had also launched a campaign called 'Vote Delhi Vote' on April 1.

"During the last elections, a number of east Delhi areas witnessed low voter turnout. We don't want this to happen again. With this campaign, we will go to various schools as well as the weekly bazaars to appeal to the people to cast their vote," said BS Vohra, member of Joint Front of East Delhi RWAs.

With thanks : Hindustan Times : LINK for detailed news.

Hindustan Times : B S Vohra

with thanks : Hindustan Times

Posters urge people to vote : Hindustan Times : B S Vohra

Hindustan Times : B S Vohra

with thanks : Hindustan Times : LINK

Hindustan Times : B S Vohra

with thanks : Hindustan Times : HT Live East

Hindustan Times : B S Vohra

B S Vohra : Quoted by Hindustan times : HT Live east : 6.1.12
with thanks : Hindustan Times : link above

Bijli Andolan : Hindustan Times

with thanks : hindustan Times

But name & Federation name are wrong

Hindustan Times : B S Vohra

B S Vohra in Hindustan Times

Sonia Vohra in HT Live Delhi East : Hindustan Times

B S Vohra : Hindustan Times

Hindustan Times : B S Vohra

with thanks : Hindustan Times

Hindustan Times : B S Vohra