Big defaulters to pay up power dues or face disconnection

Around three lakh prominent personalities in the state have devised an intriguing strategy to come to terms with ever-increasing power bills—to simply leave them unpaid.

These ‘big fish’ have staggering amounts pending against their names, ranging from Rs1 lakh to Rs8 lakh. And though they haven’t paid up since a year or more, the UP Power Corporation, which is quick to take action when the common man defaults on petty sums, has not disconnected their supply.

The issue came to light during a departmental review meet on Monday, after which UPPCL managing director AP Mishra cracked the whip on chief engineers and told them strictly that they could not escape accountability on the issue. He took the entire list of the big defaulters, who will now be required to pay up or have their power supply snapped.

In Lucknow region alone, the dues against big defaulters are close to Rs80 crore. Overall, the amount would run into hundreds of crores, an official said.

“Chief engineers have been tasked to realise the dues from the big defaulters within five days or disconnect their power supply,” a UPPCL official said.

Mishra met several chief engineers and called many others on phone to remind them that they have to realise the arrears. This was the second embarrassment for the corporation within a week.

On Saturday, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had ordered a survey of all government bungalows and buildings across the state to check whether power loads needed to be reviewed. The directive came in wake of reports that an RTI query had revealed that six air conditioners were running at the residence of a district magistrate in western UP, though the premises had only one kilowatt of sanctioned load.