Forget common man, even Govt depts do not pay electricity bills

Gurugram: The recent survey by the state electricity department has revealed that it is government offices that are the biggest culprit of not paying their electricity bills.

The total electricity bill pending is Rs35 crore. With Rs 2 crore it is the deputy commissioner officer that leads the pack. The other main departments that have not paid their bills are the Gurugram police commissioner's office, district health department and various public health centres that are functional in the city.

Even more shocking is that the electricity department within the district also has a pending bill of Rs37 lakhs.

Responding to the non-payment of power bills a senior official from Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) said, "It is not that the government department wants to pay for the bills but there are various procedures and approvals that are required for clearing the payments. Maybe, this is the reason that there is delay in the payments."

This is not for the first time when public officials have been found to in such a position. In April last, 17 Gurugram police officials have been found guilty of power theft in the city.

The illegal act of the city police officials was revealed after a surprise raid conducted by the vigilance department of state electricity board in the Police lines area on Tuesday morning. In what can add to more shame for Gurugram police department there are more police officials that are likely to be involved in the power theft.

Besides the seventeen Police officials, the electricity department officials had also taken possession of seven electricity metres that were found tampered and have sent it for testing.

The report comes at a time when there been complaints by various residents of inadequate power infrastructure leading to frequent power cuts in their areas.