Prime Minister’s residence does not have an electricity meter, reveals RTI query

Times Now: New Delhi: Thursday, July 26, 2018.

When an RTI applicant inquired about the details of the per month electricity consumption of the Prime Minister’s residence, he got a shocking reply. The response stated that neither there is a consumption record nor a separate electric meter has been installed for the Prime Minister’s residence. A retired government official and a Gurgaon-based RTI activist, Jagdish Singh Walia, filed an RTI with Central Public Works Department (CPWD) asking not only about the per month electricity consumption of Prime Minister’s residence - 7, Lok Kalyan Marg but also about the expenditure incurred to convert conventional lights to LED bulbs in the Prime Minister’s residence in order to save electricity. Intrigued with government’s decision of changing conventional lights to LED bulbs, Walia filed an RTI after he saw a video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where he mentioned about changing lights in all government buildings. “I wanted to check if the Prime Minister himself concentrates on saving electricity at his residence- 7, Lok Kalyan Marg,” Walia said.The CPWD in its response revealed that there is no separate electricity meter for the Prime Minister’s residence. As per the rules, CPWD itself is responsible for the maintenance of government building which also includes Parliament, the Rashtrapati Bhawan, and the Prime minister’s residence. Walia’s second query about the expenditure of conversion of conventional lights to LED bulbs in the Prime Minister’s house got an inconclusive reply where CPWD said, “The information sought was exempt as per section 7(9) of the RTI act as it not readily available”.

Reportedly, in 2015 Delhi’s incumbent chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal had run up an electricity bill of Rs 1.35 lakh from two electricity meters of June month, at his official residence 6- Flag Staff Road, Civil Lines. Walia also mentioned that he had filed another RTI, whose result is pending, where he had sought information about the electricity consumption of the whole Prime minister’s residential complex.