Power Minister fumes as discom puts up 'wasteful' show at launch

The city Power Minister Satyendra Kumar Jain was disappointed with the elaborate arrangements by a power distribution company for the inauguration of a grid sub-station on Deen Dayal Upadhaya Marg on Friday.

Sources said the livid minister also gave a dressing-down to some discom officials for wasteful expenditure on marquee and other ribbon-cutting paraphernalia.

Jain said the event could have been organised in a few thousand rupees. Instead the discom spent lakhs on it and the money spent will “ultimately become a burden on the consumers”, he reportedly said.

The BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) 33/11 KV grid sub-station, inaugurated by the minister, was constructed at a cost of Rs 20 crore.

This state-of-the-art grid sub-station will help improve the electricity supply in places like DDU Marg, ITO, Daryaganj, Kotla Road and Mata Sundari Road. It will also benefit three hospitals – G B Pant Hospital, Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Medical College.

The sub-station is equipped with the next generation distribution technology to ensure uninterrupted power supply and to tackle unforeseen eventualities, said BYPL.

These include Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition  system, numerical relay for protection, three sources of power for added reliability and Nitrogen Injection Fire Protection System system, it added.

P R Kumar, CEO, BYPL said,“This grid will meet the growing power demand of the numerous residential and commercial establishments in central Delhi.”