Power defaulters owe discoms Rs 6,800 crore

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 26

Since over Rs 6,800 crore needs to be recovered from defaulters of the Haryana power distribution companies, the focus of the department has shifted to areas in Haryana where there is a “culture” of not paying electricity bills. The department is also contemplating on naming defaulters.

The situation under the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) is grim. Till December 2020, there are over 15.59 lakh defaulting connections and against them, Rs 4,754.08 crore amount is pending.

Under private connections, a total of 15.43 lakh connections have default amount of Rs 4,249.33 crore against them. As many as 8.25 lakh (53.5 per cent) connections alone are falling in the rural domestic category, against which Rs 2,612.44 crore is pending.

The second worst is the domestic urban category where Rs 611.60 crore is due against 3.62 lakh connections. Also, Rs 461.42 crore is pending against 26,592 connections in the industrial sector while 1.64 lakh connections in the agriculture sector have default amount of Rs 82.44 crore against them.

Also, 3.25 lakh connections have been disconnected against which Rs 1.890.37 crore has been outstanding.

Under the DHBVN, a total of Rs 504.75 crore is pending against the government departments too. It is the Public Health Department which is the leader among defaulters with Rs 187.31 crore (37.1 per cent) pending against 7,502 connections. Also, the urban Local Bodies Department has to pay Rs 168.05 crore against 2,395 connections.

Under the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN), there is over 19 per cent rise in the default amount till December 2020 as compared to 2019-20. A total of Rs 2,105 crore is pending with Rs 1,911 crore against private consumers and Rs 194 crore against government departments.

“There is fallout of Covid on the private sector, which is responsible for the rise. Meanwhile, we have launched a concerted campaign for recovering the dues. We are targeting the top 100 defaulters since it is usually seen that 80 per cent of the amount is defaulted by 20 per cent people. We are also contemplating to release the name of defaulters in the public domain,” said Managing Director (MD) UHBVN Shashank Anand.

Under the UHBVN, it is the Rohtak circle which leads in defaulters’ list with Rs 589 crore, followed by Rs 274 crore each in the Sonepat and Ambala circles and Rs 249 crore in the Kaithal circle.

“Through ‘Mhara Gaon Jagmag Gaon’ (MGJG) scheme we are trying to recover dues. It has become a culture in some districts not to pay the bills. Overall, it is the private consumers who are the maximum defaulters,” said PK Das, Additional Chief Secretary, Power.

Rohtak circle heads violators’ list

Under the UHBVN, it is the Rohtak circle which leads in defaulters’ list with Rs 589 crore, followed by Rs 274 crore each in the Sonepat and Ambala circles and Rs 249 crore in the Kaithal circle.

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