PSPCL cuts power supply to defaulters; CM's sister-in-law, former CM's family among the defaulter

Punjab State Power Corporation Limited has taken a bold stand over the defaulters not paying power dues.
Image used for representational purpose only
Image used for representational purpose only

CHANDIGARH: With Punjab awaiting the results of State Assembly polls and the grape wine hinting at a possible retreat of SAD-BJP government in the State, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has taken a bold stand over the defaulters not paying power dues.

In a bid to recover the dues from the defaulters, the PSPCL has cut the electricity supply of many prominent people including Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s sister-in-law Savinder Kaur, who lives in Chak Fateh Singhwala Village in Bathinda and former chief minister Harcharan Singh Brar's family.

Reportedly, Kaur owes the company a total of Rs 65,000 in power dues. The electricity generating and distributing company of the State government has claimed that the government departments alone owe Rs 730 crore to it till December 31, 2016.

In last two months, the PSPCL recovered only Rs15 crore from the defaulter government departments. Hence, all the defaulter departments were issued notices by the corporation on Tuesday and were warned against not paying their pending electricity bills. The notice also stated that the power connections will be cut by the company, if the issue was not addressed at the earliest.

With over Rs 353 crore pending bills, the Public Health Department tops the list of defaulters while the Irrigation Department is the next with over Rs 100 crore. The Municipal Committee under the Local Bodies Department owes around Rs 54.20 crore and the water works wings of the Municipal Committees have a pending bill of Rs 95.20 crore.

Punjab Police owes Rs 10.53 crore to the corporation, Rural Development and Panchayats Department has a pending bill of Rs 10.99 crore, Deputy Commissioners offices in the State owe around Rs 3.53 crore and Amritsar Central Jail owes Rs 77 lakh.

Sources said that the main defaulters are from the border zone as they owe the corporation a total of Rs 229 crore, followed by South Zone with nearly Rs 204 crore and Central Zone with Rs 31.58 crore. In the last six months of 2016, the outstanding amount went up by Rs 132 crore.

Besides the government departments, private electricity consumers owe the corporation Rs 398 crore, as some 8.28 lakh consumers are defaulters. The corporation has recovered Rs 120 crore dues in January and February this year.

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