A court has directed Delhi chief secretary K.K.
A court has directed Delhi chief secretary K.K. Sharma to submit a report along with the solution to the desperate problem of the lack of authorised recharging stations for e-rickshaws to stop electricity theft.
The court also rapped the power secretary of Delhi, who was earlier asked to file a compliance report on the steps taken to prepare modalities to create legal recharging stations for e-rickshaws.
The court said that the people were compelled to commit theft of electricity, as there were no re-charging stations. It also said that people were re-charging e-rickshaw batteries from domestic connections.
“This is not justifiable. It will, therefore, be in interest of all that instead of shifting the burden and informing the court it will take long to make policy for creating such stations or addressing this problem, a solution should be found at the earliest by all departments by working on priority, cooperating with each other so as to stop this menace instead of discussing the concurrent list under which the electricity falls or shifting burden from one department to the other,” the court said.
The court said it was a serious problem and the concerned authorities should have come up with implementable solutions. The power secretary’s counsel said that policy formation on providing recharging stations of e-rickshaws involves several departments including, the ministry of urban development, DDA, NDMC, MCD and power distribution companies in Delhi and it will take some time to frame a permanent policy after holding discussions with them.
He also said framing a policy in this regard will require change in rules and regulations in the transport department at the time of issuance of permits and rules of the power watchdog DERC on tariff.
Unhappy with the response, the court said shifting the burden by one department to another does not serve the purpose for which order in this case had been passed earlier.
It said the court would have been satisfied if its order would have been considered as a wake up call, instead of shifting burden to other departments.
