No rationale behind hiking power tariff in Chandigarh, says MP Tewari
MP Tewari was responding to the issues raised by the residents during a joint meeting held by the Joint Coordination Committee of the Resident Welfare Association (RWAs) of Ward Number 23 at Sector-43 Community Centre. MP Tewari said that he has been consistently raising Chandigarh-related matters in the parliament.
He argued that since the power company has not undertaken any significant infrastructure upgrades or expansions, there is no rationale behind increasing electricity charges. He assured residents that he would strongly raise these concerns during the upcoming Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) meeting scheduled for July 25.
Chandigarh Congress president HS Lucky and area councillor Prem Lata were also present in the meeting. Lucky praised MP Tewari, saying that the city is fortunate to have a sincere and sensible representative who not only utilises his MPLADS for local development but also persistently voices public concerns in parliament and other forums. During the event, MP Tewari also honoured senior citizens of the ward with mementos as a mark of respect.
The event was attended by several prominent personalities, including Chandigarh's senior deputy mayor Jasbir Bunty, deputy mayor Taruna Mehta, councillor Hardeep Singh, AAP Chandigarh president Vijay Paul Singh, former councillor Chandermukhi Sharma, CRAWFED president Hitesh Puri, FOSWAC president Baljinder Singh Bittu, and other residents including Naresh Salwan, Jaswinder Singh, and Narendra Chaudhary.
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'While he (Dhankhar) mentioned the Supreme Court's report on justice Varma and the recommendation made by the President, there were no relevant documents attached in the annexure because correspondence related to these was not shared with the Rajya Sabha Secretariat or the vice-president's office,' said the functionary quoted above. The entire process of impeachment must be completed in the monsoon session that ends on August 21. Justice Varma will get up to three opportunities to defend himself before Parliament. Parliament proceedings have been disrupted this week with the Opposition demanding a discussion on the special intensive revision in Bihar and a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Operation Sindoor. Rijiju said a consensus was reached between the ruling coalition and the Opposition on taking up a special discussion on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha on Monday and in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The discussion will not be under any rule, which means there is no need for voting at the end. The controversy began after wads of charred cash were allegedly found at the residence of justice Varma, then a Delhi high court judge, on March 14 following a fire. On March 22, the top court formed an inquiry committee, comprising then high court chief justices Sheel Nagu (Punjab & Haryana), GS Sandhawalia (Himachal Pradesh), and justice Anu Sivaraman (Karnataka high court). The 64-page inquiry report cited 'strong inferential evidence' to conclude that justice Varma had 'covert or active control' over the charred cash. While admitting that no direct evidence linked him to the currency, the panel held that his conduct 'belied the trust' reposed in a constitutional judge and warranted impeachment proceedings. The committee concluded that even if the money had been stored without his explicit knowledge, its presence in his official residence 'eroded public trust' and constituted judicial misconduct of a grave nature. The findings of the report were submitted to then CJI Khanna on May 3. Five days later, he wrote to the PM and President.
