17 govt depts default on power bills, police chief’s office tops list
As many as 17 government departments located in the district administrative complex have failed to pay electricity bills running into lakhs to the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL).
As many as 17 government departments located in the district administrative complex have failed to pay electricity bills running into lakhs to the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL).
The total default amount for the past six months has piled up to Rs 25.58 lakh. The PSPCL on Wednesday disconnected electricity connection to the sub-registrar’s office which failed to pay bills amounting to Rs 6 lakh.
As per the list, the police commissioner’s office tops the list of defaulters with an outstanding amount of Rs 4.9 lakh, district treasury office Rs 4.8 lakh followed by the district transport office (DTO) at Rs 4.05 lakh.
The district ‘nazar’ branch has pending amount of Rs 2.8 lakh while the additional deputy commissioner’s (development) office owes PSPCL Rs 2.41 lakh.
The district consumer forum owes the power utility Rs 1.07 lakh while the office of senior superintendent of police (SSP) rural has to pay Rs 36,238.
The district labour department is also not punctual with payments with power bills worth Rs 66640 pending against it.
After the PSPCL disconnected power supply to the building of sub-registrar, assistant commissioner (general) Shikha Bhagat summoned officials of the power utility but they refused to restore the connection pending payment of the outstanding amount.
On Thursday, a power generator was installed in the building to restore electricity supply.
Later in the evening, the administration paid bills amounting to `6 lakh for the sub-registrar building. Its electricity connection will be restored on Friday. Sources said government departments were not able to clear pending bills due to shortage of funds.
Officials said the state government has also not been releasing funds on time due to which they are facing problems.
An PSPCL official said they always gives ample time to government departments to pay their bills as most of of them deal with day-to-day public affairs.
The officials further said they were forced to disconnect the power connection of the building.