Transmission links in Delhi will be restored by June 22: Goyal

He also asked Jung for an action plan to permanently end the national capital's electricity woes

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Power Minister Piyush Goyal today said transmission links in the city will be restored by June 22, paving the way for regular supplies, even as he asked Delhi Lieutenant Governor Delhi Najeeb Jung for an action plan to permanently end the national capital's electricity woes.

The city has been suffering extended outages amid hot and humid weather after a storm damaged parts of the transmission and distribution network last month.

The central government has asked the Lieutenant Governor to draft the plan at the earliest and come up with a permanent solution to strengthen transmission and distribution in the city in a timebound manner, the minister said.

Goyal also asked Jung to make provisions in the plan for strict action against under-performing or non-performing power distribution companies.

If the discoms are not performing well and not reacting to consumer complaints, then serious penalties should be imposed on them, Goyal told reporters here.

He added that if Delhi elects a government, it would help quicken reforms in the National Capital Region's power sector.

Delhi has been under President's rule after Arvind Kejriwal resigned as chief minister on February 14.

BJP MLAs led by Vijay Goel today met Goyal and discussed the power crisis in the capital. They suggested that a check be kept on water from underground resources and reservoirs as supplies may be affected due to prolonged power cuts.

Goyal blamed the previous Congress government in Delhi headed by Shiela Dikshit for the situation, saying, "If the earlier government had paid attention to the upgradation of transmission and distribution work, the power transmission (in Delhi) which is 8,000 MW right now would have been 10,000 MW."

He said Power Grid Corporation will complete restoration of transmission links in the capital by June 22. Goyal said on June 10 it would take 15 days to restore normal power supply.

"Eastern Delhi will be benefited the most from these restoration works as there will be additional power to the tune of 150 MW for the area," he said.