Finally the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation (PDD) has identified over 50,000 defaulter consumers across the Jammu region, and they may soon face snapping of electricity connections for not clearing their pending dues as the PDD has reportedly prepared a list of all the defaulters, and the enforcement teams have been engaged for initiating action on the ground with disconnection of the electricity connections on cards. What is startling in this case is the fact that in Jammu city only, it is learnt that outstanding dues of the government departments are more than Rs 70 crores putting those officials delivering sermons to the common man in a dock because the UT government stands caught in a contradictory web of its own making. Strangely, some public welfare and rehabilitation projects established by the help of central government and politically sensitive, the default amounts are whopping in few hundreds crore rupees
Isn’t it astounding that on one side, JPDCL is threatening defaulter consumers with power disconnections for failing to clear their dues and on the other, there are a number of government departments which continue to flout their own rules, amassing unpaid electricity bills amounting to crore of rupees?
It’s really a cruel joke because the very entity tasked with enforcing discipline and accountability is itself the largest defaulter. While the common man faces the harsh reality of losing their connection over overdue payments, the government sits comfortably with its ever-growing pile of unpaid bills.
Reportedly, the concerned department has constituted enforcement teams at the sub-division level to disconnect the electricity connections if the bills are not paid in the next couple of days. Although reports have confirmed that a similar approach has been adopted against the defaulter government departments but going by the past record one can gauge well that action against government departments won’t last long. Those heading the aforesaid defaulter government departments should be made answerable that why they have not accomplished the needful action well in time and what is the reason behind non- payment of electricity bills as the issue has led to embarrassment for the helmsmen telling the people to pay power bills in time.
Notably, the target of revenue collection in the Jammu division has been set for Rs 3600 crore, but only about Rs 1800 crore has been collected so far. The financial year is ending on March 31, so the department is pressing hard to collect maximum revenue in the current financial year.
However, if the government truly wishes to ensure financial discipline, it must lead by example—starting with clearing its own dues before penalizing the common man.
