PSCPL told to send bills to Finance Dept

JALANDHAR: Taking the burden and harassment faced by government schools in the payment of electricity bills off the shoulders of the schools, the Education Department has told Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to route these bills straight to the government rather than troubling the schools for their payment.

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 12

Taking the burden and harassment faced by government schools in the payment of electricity bills off the shoulders of the schools, the Education Department has told Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to route these bills straight to the government rather than troubling the schools for their payment.

The directions were issued in a letter released a few days ago.

The department has told the PSCPCL to send claims regarding the payment of electricity bills straight to the finance department of the state government so that the amount for the electricity bills be released directly by the government to the PSCPCL. The department has also been told not to cut electricity connections of schools, based on the non-payment of the bi-monthly bills.

Notably, many schools were at the receiving end, facing harassment in this regard. Many schools in Jalandhar had also complained regarding the non-release of electricity bill grants by their respective BPEOs and some had also seen visits by the PSPCL employees, threatening cutting of the electrcity connections due to the non-payment of the bills.

The state has sought claims regarding the bills from the Power Department. The letter instructs that the PSPCL should take all school readings quarterly and claims regarding these should be sent to the Finance Department. So far, the readings are being taken every two months and a surcharge is put while depositing the bills. Now, when the readings of the bills shall be taken after three months, and the consolidated amount of the schools, which has to be released by the schools, if there is a delay in its payment, the surcharge of the same will not be put to government schools and neither the connection of any government school will be cut.

The letter says after deliberations, it was decided that Principal Secretary, Finance, shall release a lumpsum amount on every quarter, directly to the PSPCL, on the basis of last year’s average bills of electricity, pertaining to all government schools in the state, from out of the budgeted allocation of the Department of School Education. The lump sum payments shall be reconciled with the aggregate of the actual meter bills twice in a financial year, preferably at the end of the second and fourth quarter. It is further decided that the electricity connections of these schools shall not be disconnected in the case of non-payment, as it is being experienced sometimes in certain cases for one reason or another.