Power bill: civic bodies top defaulters' chart

The state-owned Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) is facing difficulties in collecting payments from municipalities and other civic bodies.

In many cases the outstanding bills of municipalities and panchayats come to crores of rupees.

The unpaid bills in the Anand circle covering Anand and Kheda districts are worth Rs 35 crore.

The Nadidad municipality tops the list with an outstanding bill of Rs 16.65 crore.

The other municipalities and panchayats with unpaid bills of over crore are Khambhat at Rs 6.21 crore, Kapadwanj (Rs 2.70 crore), Borsad (Rs 2.44 crore), Petlad (Rs 1.84 crore) Memdabad (Rs 1.78 crore) and Ode (Rs 1.05 crore).

The bill period vary from months to years in different cases.

GEB officials alleged on condition of anonymity that their hands are tied in the matter due to political interference.

"We have no freedom such as disconnecting power supply of defaulters to compel them to pay the unpaid amount. Local politicians always start pulling strings whenever we move to take any action. At the same time we also feel that the general public should not suffer due to the financial malpractices carried out by the leaders of the concerned civic bodies," a GEB official said.

Commenting on the poor financial position of municipalities, chief officer of Anand Municipality, Bhupendra Patel said, "The municipalities are getting sufficient funds from various sources.

The issue is utilisation of revenue through best management. The municipal authorities should cut down unnecessary expenses in areas such as man power."

The Anand municipality has a clean record of paying energy bill with outstandings of only Rs 11 lakh for last month.

The municipalities receive electric bills for two months and credit period of 10 days. The civic bodies are also entitled to get 10 days extra credit period before GEB slaps the first notice.

No top Gujarat Electricity Board official is ready to talk on record for any possible steps or plan for recovery from municipality as there is no scope left due to the political influence in system.

The minister of state for energy and petrochemicals Saurabh Dalal and chairperson of GEB Vijya Laxmi Joshi were not available for comment.

Power failure

• The unpaid bills in the Anand circle are worth Rs 35 crore
• The Nadidad municipality has outstandings of Rs 16.65 crore
• GEB officials say their hands are tied due to political interference
• Municipalities get bills for 2 months and a 10 days credit period
• Civic bodies get 10 days credit before GEB slaps the first notice
• Wrong utilisation of revenue seen reason for defaulting