Scindia for CAG audit of discoms

Says the truth should come out

Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has supported Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s move to get the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to scrutinise the accounts of Delhi’s private power distribution companies, owned by Reliance Infrastructure and Tata Power.

“If there is nothing to hide, one should always be open to an audit and let the enquiry happen. Let the truth come out,” Scindia said in a media interaction on Thursday.

He was responding to a question on whether the Delhi government’s move would dampen investor sentiment in the power distribution sector.

Earlier this month, Kejriwal had managed to secure a request from Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to the national auditor for the audit, which he believes would expose financial irregularities and create grounds for a tariff reduction. He has meanwhile announced a 50 per cent subsidy for domestic consumers using less than 400 units of power in a month.

Referring to the subsidy announcement, Scindia cautioned that the move should not impact the financials of distribution companies. “Every state government is well within its right to subsidise power cost for a category of consumers. But, the subsidy cost has to be financed from the state’s budget so that the discoms do not go bankrupt,” the minister said.

Reliance Infrastructure-owned BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna supply power to 75 per cent of the city’s 3.4 million consumers. Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL) caters to the rest. The discoms have opposed the CAG audit.