50,000 power defaulters in Jammu face disconnections
Northlines Correspondent
Jammu Tawi, Feb 18: Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Department (PDD) has identified over 50,000 defaulter consumers across the Jammu region, and they may soon face snapping of electricity connections.
Official sources in the PDD said the department has readied a list of defaulters, and the enforcement teams have been engaged for initiating action on the ground with disconnection of the electricity connections.
“More than 50,000 consumers have been identified as defaulters in the Jammu division and the officers have been directed to take action against them as per the updated list,” they said, adding that the enforcement teams constituted at the sub-division level have been set into motion to disconnect the electricity connections if the bills are not paid in the next couple of days.
“Moreover, a similar campaign has also been launched against the government departments,” adding the government departments falling in the defaulters list have also been asked to deposit the bills by February 20, else they will also meet the same fate.
“In Jammu city, it is learnt that outstanding dues of the government departments are more than Rs 70 crores,” adding, “the Principal Secretary H Prasad has made it clear that the the consumers included in the defaulters list whether a government official, employee, bureaucrat or a politician, will not be spared and have to deposit the bills,” they said.
A highly placed source, on condition of anonymity, told the Northlines that while the JPDCL has been pro-active in recovering the electricity arrears from the common consumers falling in domestic and small traders, it has miserably failed in realizing hundreds of crores rupees from the scores of government departments and hundreds of governments offices, PSUs, Police establishments, JPDCL’s own offices and stations, Estate Departments houses occupied by the top politicians, bureaucrats and numerous VIPs etc. The Source said, few top welfare and rehabilitation projects like migrants housing projects have never ever paid the electricity bills since these were established.
“In a couple of official meetings in past, the top bosses were apprised about the unpaid electricity bills and default payment of hundreds of crores rupees, nobody dared to pursue the recovery of such huge amount keeping in view the political sensitivities attached to such cases,” the source said.
Officials said the target of revenue collection in Jammu division has been set for Rs 3600 crore, but only about Rs 1800 crore has been collected so far.
They said the financial year is ending on March 31, so the department is pressing hard to collect maximum revenue in the current financial year. The officers unable to meet the revenue collection target may also face action.
