Govt departments major power bill defaulters of Rs6,000 crore

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 13

Even as the UT administration has rolled out an amnesty scheme for the consumers to facilitate the recovery of pending dues, the central and J&K departments have turned out to be major power bill defaulters in the Union Territory as they alone owe the power development department dues of around Rs 6,000 crore.

According to the official data, various categories of consumers, including government departments, industrial units, commercial establishments and domestic consumers, have whopping electricity dues of Rs 9321.71 crore across Jammu and Kashmir.

Out the Rs 9321.71-crore arrears, the government departments owe Rs 5935.04 crore, including Rs 1864.20 crore to the Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) and Rs 4070.84 crore to Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (JPDCL).

“The industrial and commercial establishments have the electricity dues of Rs 1462.33 crore, including Rs 581.81 crore to the KPDCL and Rs 880.52 crore to the JPDCL. As far as the domestic consumers are concerned, there pending electricity dues to the KPDCL are Rs 828.39 crore and Rs 1095.95 crore to the JPDCL.

Recently, the Jammu and Kashmir Government rolled out a major power amnesty scheme for the consumers “to facilitate the recovery of pending dues of around Rs 3,000 crore”.

The government had claimed that the scheme would cost around Rs 600 crore to the Jammu and Kashmir exchequer.

The amnesty scheme, which came into effect on March 1, envisages payment of all arrears in three easy installments. The consumers will have to complete 25 per cent of the payment by March 31, 40 per cent of the payment by April 30 and the remaining by May 31.

After June 1, power will not be supplied to the defaulting customers unless the arrears are cleared in full.

According to official sources, there are 11 hydroelectric projects or power stations (above 25 MW) totalling 3,360 MW functional in Jammu and Kashmir. Besides, five hydroelectric projects (above 25 MW) totaling 1,709.50 MW are under construction in Jammu and Kashmir.

No electricity after June 1

• The amnesty scheme for the consumers, which came into effect on March 1, envisages payment of all arrears in three easy installments. The consumers will have to complete 25 per cent of the payment by March 31, 40 per cent of the payment by April 30 and the remaining by May 31
• After June 1, power will not be supplied to the defaulting customers unless the arrears are cleared in full

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