In east Delhi's Jafrabad area, angry residents vandalized a bus and set it on fire on Tuesday night.
The massive power outages in a sweltering Delhi have brought people out to the streets in protest. In east Delhi's Jafrabad area, angry residents vandalized a bus and set it on fire on Tuesday night. This morning, a protest by Congress supporters led to a traffic jam near Nangloi on the outskirts of the city.
There is also heated politics on the issue as parties blame each other. Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party or AAP, which led the Delhi government for a 49-day period early this year, will seek an appointment to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi today to discuss the capital's acute power crisis. (
Arvind Kejriwal Attacks BJP Over Power Crisis, Government Formation)The decision was taken at a late night AAP meeting, the party's Sanjay Singh said. After resigning as Delhi chief minister, Mr Kejriwal had fought the general elections from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh against Mr Modi. The latter won by a huge margin.
Mr Kejriwal tweeted yesterday, "BJP neither able to handle power crisis nor forming government nor allowing elections in Delhi. Completely irresponsible."
An AAP team of legislators protested yesterday at the home of union minister and prominent Delhi BJP leader Harshvardhan, who said this morning, "They (the AAP) did not govern...they were creating chaos and doing dharnas...they did cheap politics."
Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal said after an emergency meeting with top officials in Delhi yesterday that it would a few days to resolve the crisis. He said a deadline of 10 days has been set to restore three major transmission lines of the Delhi Transco Ltd that were damaged during a recent dust-storm. The network connects grid stations of Dadri, Mandola, Bawana, Bamnauli and Narela. Badarpur-Noida-Ghazipur line of the UP Power Transmission Company Limited also suffered a breakdown. Over 10 towers and around 250 electric poles were also affected due to the storm. (
10-Day Deadline To Fix Delhi's Crisis, Vows Power Minister Piyush Goyal )
"We are working round the clock. We hope to set this right within two weeks; our internal deadline is 10 days," the minister said.
The minister said the Congress government, which was in charge of Delhi for 15 years, is to blame. "The crux of the problem is clearly the lack of decision-making, lack of investment in infrastructure and lack of forward planning since 2002," Mr Goyal said.
The temperature has stayed above a steaming 45 degrees Celsius for the last days. Many parts of the city have spent hours without electricity. (
Heat Wave: Send Your Photos & Videos Here)The Met Department says the heat wave will extend till at least Thursday; that news was accompanied by a worrying forecast of an inadequate monsoon.