As the assembly poll scene heats up in Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced an indefinite fast from March 23 in protest against ‘inflated’ electricity and water bills. Polls are due in Delhi later this year.
At a press conference here, Kejriwal also appealed to the residents of Delhi not to pay their bills, or at least one bill, and join his ‘civil disobedience’ movement, to be launched from March 23, the birth anniversary of revolutionary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.
Kejriwal blamed corruption and ‘match fixing’ between Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s Government and private discoms for the ‘steep’ hike in power tariffs.
“There is move to raise tariffs once again, after which every Delhi household may end up paying Rs 5,000 more,” Kejriwal claimed.
He said his fast would continue till the Government agrees to his demand for CAG audit of power discoms, staying of all ‘illegal’ bills and changing faulty meters. He said the discoms had shown losses as the reason for raising tariffs, which is why their books need to be audited. The discoms in Delhi belong to the Tata group and Anil Ambani’s Reliance group, both of which had earlier denied his allegations.
On water, Kejriwal said half of Delhi was not getting proper water supply, but bill amounts had shot up over 15-fold.