Various government departments in Ludhiana district are included in Powercom’s list of major defaulters. According to a report, government departments owe a total of ₹30,246.34 lakh to Powercom.
In such a situation, questions are bound to arise: Powercom officials and employees are continuously taking swift action against members of the public who fail to pay their electricity bills on time. These include disconnecting electricity connections and even removing and seizing meters to extort ₹10,000-20,000. Furthermore, the officials are refusing to even hear any appeals from the public. On the other hand, the Powercom department is showing complete kindness towards various government departments related to the district and despite pending bills of crores of rupees, the officers and employees of Powercom are not able to muster the courage to disconnect the electricity connections and meters installed in the said departmental offices, which somewhere reflects the double standards of the officers.
Although, regarding this serious issue, the Powercom officials are arguing that due to the essential and emergency services related to the general public being carried out in various government departments, the electricity connections of the said offices cannot be disconnected, but the Powercom department is issuing letters from time to time to the offices related to all the government departments and issuing reminders to deposit the pending electricity bills on time.
How much bill was pending in the account of which defaulting department as of September?
Department _________ Amount in lakhs
1. Local Government ______ 16679.29
2. Water Supply and Sanitation ______ 5647.80
3. Health and Family Welfare ______ 2421.24
4. Rural Development Panchayat Department ______ 2194.02
5. Sewerage Board ______ 987.36
6. Prison Administration ______ 593.51
7. Legal and Logistics Affairs ______ 307.38
8. Education Department ______ 237.48
9. Administrative Reforms Department ______ 122.10
