Fund crunch: Pending power bill of ₹31.5 crore sends MC into tizzy
AMRITSAR: A due electricity bill of ₹31.5 crore has sent the municipal corporation (MC) here into tizzy as it is facing unprecedented fund crunch. Adding to the MC’s woes special secretary of Punjab local bodies department has directed it to pay the bill by May 31.
The bill is due since eight months, from October, 2016 to May 2017. Of the total bill, ₹10 crore is of street lights and ₹21.5 crore is of water supply in tube wells, zone offices and sewerage disposals.
The department has asked the civic body to pay the bill from the revenue generated through VAT (Value Added Tax). However, the VAT money has been spent on salary of the employees for March and April.
If the body fails to clear the dues, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) can disconnect power supply being given to eight zone offices, 300 tubewells, 5,000 street lights and many sewerage disposals. Notably, the MC generates a revenue of approximately ₹13crore every month. While ₹8 crore is VAT money, about ₹5 crore comes from bills of water supply and sewerage, building fee, license fee, property tax and advertisement.
Apart from electricity bill, the civic body has not cleared payments of petrol-diesel and other pending funds—gratuity, LIC, pension etc. of its employees.
If the VAT money is spent on clearance of electricity bill, salaries of employees will hang in air. The employees have already been complaining from time to time about the delay in salaries. Recently the employees had requested the commissioner to look into the matter. Since 2011, fiscal deficit of the corporation has risen to ₹80 crore.
“We have made all efforts to find solution for the problem,but it is not possible for us to pay the bill.The government should help us,” said mayor Bakshi Ram Arora, mayor. Commissioner Gurloveleen Singh Sidhu said, “We are trying our best to increase the revenue to tackle the situation and hopefully we will find a way out.”