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Khattar announces scheme for defaulting power consumers to clear outstanding bills
In a relief to the defaulting power consumers, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday announced an Electricity Surcharge Waiver Scheme 2022
In a relief to the defaulting power consumers, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday announced an Electricity Surcharge Waiver Scheme 2022, in which the defaulters pay their outstanding principal amount in a lump sum or in three instalments.
The CM at a press briefing said the surcharge waiver will be applicable to the defaulting domestic and government power consumers who have not cleared their dues on and after December 31, 2021. Besides, consumers whose bill dispute cases are pending in any judicial forum will also be able to take advantage of the scheme, only if they withdraw their cases.
Khattar said defaulting consumers will be able to pay their outstanding principal amount in a lump sum or in three instalments. Further, a 5 % discount will be given to such consumers provided they clear the entire principal amount in one go.
The CM said that for all other consumers late payment surcharge will be re-calculated at the simple rate of 10% per annum, whereas at present it is calculated at the rate of 1.5 percent monthly.
Additional chief secretary PK Das said that the total arrears of domestic (rural) consumers is ₹4,969 crore and domestic (urban) is ₹459 crore, including principal and surcharge.
One-time settlement scheme for passenger and goods tax
The chief minister also announced a one-time scheme for settlement of arrears of passenger and goods tax. He said the scheme aimed at recovering the outstanding arrears of passenger and goods tax amounting to ₹2,113 crore due till March 31, 2017.
The CM said that the old Punjab Passenger and Goods Tax Act, 1952, has been abolished but the recovery of tax, interest and penalty amounting to ₹2,113 crore was pending.
Under the scheme formulated by the transport department, if the payment is made within a period of 90 days from the date of notification, then the beneficiary will have to pay the principal tax amount along with a lump sum settlement amount equal to 25% of the principal tax.
He said there are about 2,62,715 total vehicles whose total payable tax up to March 31, 2017, amounts to ₹778 crore while the interest payable up to March 31, 2017, is ₹761 crore. He further shared that from April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2021, the total calculated interest is ₹574 crore.
No schools being closed
Speaking on the issue of the merger of government schools, the CM termed the reports regarding the closure of schools baseless. Khattar said that the state government will not close any schools. The state is in process of recruiting 11,000 teachers, of which 5,000 PGTs will be recruited by the HPSC and 6,000 TGTs will be recruited by the HSSC. Till permanent recruitment is made, possibilities are explored to fill these posts through Kaushal Rozgar Nigam, he said. Taking a dig at the Opposition, the CM said that during the tenure of the previous Congress government, 509 schools were merged, whereas during our tenure only 120 schools are merged. The CM said that after merging the number of senior secondary schools is 2304, high school is 1027, the middle is 2122, and primary is 4184.
2,700 km of roads in 90 assembly constituencies to be built
The CM said that as per the demands and suggestions of the MLAs, roads having a cumulative length of 2,750 km will be built by the public works department in the next one and a half years. About ₹1,600 crore will be spent on these roads. He said that the condition of the roads will be gathered through a certification process and this certification will be done every six months. Directions will be issued to the contractors concerned to complete their pending works within the stipulated period. He said that new roads in urban areas will be constructed on a 50:50 share basis with the state government and urban local bodies sharing the construction cost.
