• Safety and security of lakhs of residents compromised due to passing of buck by Govt. Authorities
• The maintenance of streetlights in these areas costs the company ₹ 68 lakhs per month
• The company has also written to the Chief Secretary Delhi Government for his intervention
North Delhi residents, especially those residing in unauthorised areas, have to wade through dark streets due to non-payment of Rs. 10 crores pertaining to maintenance charges of over 60000 street lights by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation(DSIIDC) to Tata Power-DDL.
Due to the outstanding payments from the last 15 months, Tata Power-DDL is now unable to maintain these street lights that has now started affecting several unauthorised areas leading to unsafe conditions for lakhs of residents, especially senior citizens, women and children and may also lead to a spurt in criminal activities.
It is noteworthy here that the maintenance of street lights in unauthorized areas costs Tata Power-DDL approx. ₹ 68 lakhs per month. Time and again, both NDMC and DSIIDC have denied the ownership of these street lights resulting in accumulation of huge arrears.
In the past few months, the company has written several letters to all concerned authorities and also the Chief Secretary Delhi Government for his intervention for early resolution and immediate release of the payment.
Mr. Sanjay Banga, CEO, Tata Power-DDL said, TATA Power-DDL always strives to give the best of services to its customers but in this case non-payment of dues is severely hampering the regular maintenance of the street lights. In such a scenario, we are unable to maintain these street lights any further which is leading to darkness in certain areas of Delhi and making them unsafe for the citizens. I strongly appeal to the Government to resolve the issue by directing both NDMC and DSIIDC to release the payment at the earliest so that the safety and security of our consumers is not compromised with.