Improve power situation or face action, Delhi CM tells discoms

Amid the worst-ever power crisis in the capital, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit today bluntly told private power distribution companies to take measures to improve the situation or face action.

The stern message from Dikshit came at a meeting she had with senior officials of the power department, and three discoms at her official residence here.

"Get power at any cost from anywhere. You publish the schedule for power cut in local channels," the chief minister told the officials of the private discoms.

"Private discoms have been given four days time to improve the situation. If they can't, then we will have to explore some other options," she told reporters here after the hour-long meeting.

She also said the power situation will improve in the coming days as the Central government has agreed to give additional allocation of 150 MW to the national capital.

The Mandoli power station, which was shut down due to technical failure, has also started functioning properly and from now, the city will get 350 MW of power from there, she added.

The chief minister also directed the power officials to visit areas across the city to check whether the private discoms are complying with the government's directives.

Sources said BSES officials were pulled up in the meeting by Dikshit who said areas under BSES has the maximum power cuts. "Upgrade your infrastructure system," she is understood to have told the BSES officials.