Now, government departments on PSPCL radar
BATHINDA: After snapping power connections of political bigwigs, government departments are now on the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) radar for not paying their outstanding electricity bills.
The corporation has sent a notice to Bathinda Central Jail authorities to clear ₹85 lakh power dues to avoid disconnection. The corporation has also cut power supply to water works in over 50 villages. The water supply and sanitation department owes more ₹2.5 crore to the PSPCL. In some cases, bills have not been paid for over a year.
After the February 4 polling in Punjab, the PSPCL spearheaded its campaign to collect arrears from government entities. Departments, including police and civil administration in three districts—Bathinda, Muktsar and Mansa — had outstanding power bill amounting to around ₹140 crore.
One of senior officials of water supply and sanitation department said they have written to state government to release funds to clear power dues, but to no avail. “The delay in release of funds by the government delayed payment to the power corporation, thus resulting in piling up of the dues,” said an official.
Water supply and sanitation department executive engineer Jaswinder Singh said they have sought time from the PSPCL to clear dues and requested them to restore connection so the water supply to villages is restored. “The PSCPL has restored power connections to some water works and the process has been initiated to clear dues,” he said.
Meanwhile, PSPCL’s executive engineer LK Bansal said strict action would be taken against defaulters, including government departments and commercial users. “The water supply and sanitation department assured to clear dues before March 31 following which we have started restoring their power connections,” he said.
NOTICE TO WATER SUPPLY DEPT
FARIDKOT: The PSPCL has issued a notice to the water supply and sanitation department in Faridkot to pay ₹2.30 crore power bill to avoid disconnection.
Deputy chief engineer, PSPCL, Faridkot, Inderjeet Singh said water works comes under the category of essential commodities but it doesn’t mean that the department can get away without paying power bill. If the department fails to clear dues by Monday, power connection will be snapped, he said. The department supplies 10 lakh gallons of water in Faridkot daily. Meanwhile, the power corporation on Thursday snapped power supply to water works of Arianwala village, which owes ₹25 lakh as electricity bill.
Power supply to the Faridkot Jail was also snapped on Thursday for some hours as it owes ₹1.50 crore to the PSPCL. The jail authorities assured of paying the bill in a week after which the power supply was restored.
FATHER, SON BOOKED FOR ATTACKING
PSPCL TEAM
Meanwhile, the police have booked a father-son duo for allegedly attacking a team of the PSPCL when it had gone to disconnect the power connection for failing to pay electricity bill of ₹31,000. The police have booked Tota Singh and his son of Gumti village under Section 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duties) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the IPC at the Dialpura police station. They allegedly attacked junior engineer Sukhmandar Singh and driver Gursewak Singh who had to run for cover.