Electricity Dept to recover over Rs 8 cr from defaulters

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 12 

More than 273 defaulters comprising the companies, industries, individuals, government offices, boards and the corporation owe more than Rs 8 crore to the Electricity Department as pending bills. The names of the defaulters were made public by the Electricity Department. 

Sources said the department had displayed the names of the defaulters on its website acting on the directions of the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) .

The JERC asked the department to display the names of the defaulters on the official website. 

The sources said the list is of defaulters who collectively owe the amount.

The names of the government departments that figure in the list include the Civil Secretariats of Punjab and the UT, MLAs’ hostels and various departments of the MC and the Administration. The list includes the names of the consumers who have not paid the amount of more than Rs one lakh for various reasons. 

Sources in the department said in many cases, the payment had not been made due to dispute or court cases. In some of the cases, it was found that the companies ran away after leaving the premises locked.

The different departments of the Punjab Government in the city are yet to pay Rs 15 lakh to the Electricity Department. Even the Administration's own departments failed to pay Rs 20 lakh outstanding against them for many months. The  department has disconnected the power supply of over 100 such defaulters whose cases are not in the court.