New Delhi, July 17
Amid massive power cuts faced by the people in the city, it is now the electricity bills that are going to pinch Delhiites in the pocket as the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) today hiked the power tariff.

The DERC has approved a tariff hike of 8.32 per cent for the three electricity distribution utilities, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited, BSES Yamuna Power Limited and Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited.

DERC chairman PD Sudhakar said that the consumers will have to pay Rs 4 per unit for consuming power up to 200 units, instead of the earlier Rs 3.90 per unit, said. Each unit consumed between 201 and 400 units will cost Rs 5.95 per unit, as against the present Rs 5.80 per unit.

Those paying Rs 6.80 per unit for consuming power between 401 and 800 units, will have to shell out Rs 7.30 per unit. The power cost between 801 and 1,200 units will be Rs 8.10 against the existing Rs 7 per unit. Beyond 1,200 units, price of power per unit will be Rs 8.75.

Condemning the hike, Resident Welfare Associations across the city termed the hike as arbitrary and illogical as it is based on "fudged accounts" of power companies which have not been audited by public authority like the CAG as yet.

"The RWAs had strongly opposed the logics given by discoms to increase power tariff in capital during various public hearing held by the DERC, it seems all objections raised by the RWAs have been ignored by the regulatory authority," Varinder Arora, Delhi Residents Forum convenor.

"Various logics like inflation hike cited by the DERC for increasing steep power tariff have no relevance as these companies are not selling onions or tomatoes, it is electricity. We demand immediate roll back of power tariff or we will be forced to come on streets," said VN Bali, president, RWA Federation, Delhi East.

The association members said that power hike before the CAG audit is not justified. "We have been demanding that the CAG audit of the companies should be completed first. Excess billing, if found, should be refunded to the consumers and hefty penalty imposed for breach of trust and fleecing the consumers," MM Mehra, secretary, Kiran Vihar, RWA.

Similarly, an audit of power supplied to streetlights and units billed should also be conducted as the residual back flow will also be recorded in the meters for streetlights as they are connected to the same three phase distribution transformers. The tax payer is footing this bill too," he said.

New Delhi, July 17
Condemning the power tariff, Delhi Congress leaders demanded rollback and said that the decision was taken under pressure of the BJP's Central leadership.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Arvinder Singh Lovely said the hike was "anti-people". "The DERC's talk of taking back the fuel charge for three months was a total betrayal on the people of Delhi," he said.

He said in a statement that the DERC's decision to hike the power tariff by over 8 per cent had proved that the people of Delhi were now facing bad days.

"The DERC increased the power tariff at the direction of the BJP. The BJP leaders had talked of giving 30 per cent subsidy in the power bills before Lok Sabha and the Delhi Assembly elections, and those announcements have proved to be total betrayals on the people of Delhi," he said.

Party spokesperson Mukesh Sharma said the power tariff hike has exposed the hollow promises of the BJP.

New Delhi, July 17
The BJP today scoffed at reports that it was trying to lure MLAs of other parties to form government in Delhi, saying the party has never indulged in horse-trading and will not do so in future.

Besides, BJP MLA RP Singh issued a legal notice to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, saying that his allegation of horse-trading is baseless.

"The BJP has never done any horse-trading, nor will it do so in future. The question does not arise at all," Home Minister and former BJP president Rajnath Singh told mediapersons here.

Rubbishing Kejriwal's allegations that the BJP was trying to poach some opposition MLAs to be able to form government in Delhi, Rajnath Singh said no direction has been issued to the LG to take initiative for government formation.

RP Singh in his legal notice said that Kejriwal had alleged that the BJP had offered Rs 20 crore to each MLA to seek their support for formation of the government. This has been said on tweeter and publicized thorough posters also.

But this is not based on facts. This is being done to tarnish image of the BJP. He said that this allegation is being laid keeping in view the assembly elections in Delhi. This is a serious allegation that causes cancellation of registration number of the AAP.

RP Singh warned Kejriwal for making allegation without any basis and demanding a compensation of Rs 1 crore for mental tension and insult. If Kejriwal fails to meet the demand of RP Singh, he will get registered a case with the police.

Newly-appointed Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay had yesterday said that the party would consider taking a shot at government formation if invited by the LG.

New Delhi, July 17
A man allegedly stabbed his 24-year-old wife as her birthday gift in Mandawali, east Delhi, this morning. The victim, Sonam, is battling for her life at a hospital. Her husband, Sachin Verma, is still at large.

The police said that Verma went to his in-laws house today, where his wife was staying for the past one week. The couple had earlier fought over a dowry demand allegedly made by Verma and since then she has been staying with her parents.

Verma called Sonam in the morning and asked her to meet him to give her a birthday gift. Sonam agreed to meet him and called him at her parents' house.

"He hugged her and wished her 'Happy Birthday' and said that he had brought a gift for her. He took out a knife from his pocket and stabbed her in the stomach," said a police officer, quoting the victim's statement.

The victim's mother returned to her house after going outside to buy milk. She witnessed the incident and begged her son-in-law to not attack Sonam, but he continued to stab her. When Sonam's mother raised the alarm, Verma escaped.

Sonam was taken to a nearby hospital and the police were informed of the incident. Her condition is critical. In her statement to the police she has alleged that her husband used to harass her over dowry. Sonam's family also confirmed to the police that he would harass her over dowry.