Power corpn fails to realise Rs 44-cr dues from govt depts

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, December 2

The power department has been unable to collect bills from various government departments.

Various government departments now owe Rs 44.49 crore to the Muktsar circle office of the PSPCL which comprises of six divisions— Muktsar, Malout, Gidderbaha, Badal, Abohar and Fazilka.

As per the data procured from the PSPCL’s Muktsar zonal office till the end of October this year, Abohar division was yet to collect Rs 17.3 crore from government departments. Similarly, Gidderbaha division Rs 7 crore, Malout division Rs 6.19 crore, Muktsar Rs 5.94 crore, Badal division Rs 4.76 crore and Fazilka division Rs 3.3 crore.

The data further revealed that the Water Supply and Sanitation (Public Health) Department was the major defaulter, having an outstanding amount of Rs 21.22 crore. Similarly, the municipalities in these towns too owed Rs 14.7 crore against their water works.

The irrigation department also owed Rs 4.67 crore, which included Rs 3.7 crore to Gidderbaha division, Rs 49.5 lakh to Malout division, Rs 37.49 lakh to Badal division, Rs 6.99 lakh to Abohar division, Rs 2 lakh to Muktsar division and Rs 1 lakh to Fazilka division.

Besides, a number of government hospitals and dispensaries too owed Rs 1.36 crore. The rural development department owed Rs 1.06 crore. The local bodies department was defaulter of Rs 50.71 lakh. The tehsil complexes of Muktsar, Malout, Gidderbaha, Badal and Abohar owed Rs 18.65 lakh.

The state police too figured in the list of defaulters with electricity bills of Rs 17 lakh yet to be paid. The government schools and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) were yet to pay electricity bills of Rs 14.4 lakh. The PWD (electrical wing) office of Badal division owed Rs 9.83 lakh.

Inderjit Singh, Superintending Engineer, PSPCL, Muktsar circle, said: “The correspondence is regularly being made to the defaulters to clear their bills.”

Another senior official said the power connections of some water works, which were the major defaulters of electricity bills, had been disconnected in villages.

Courtesy: The Tribune