Puja security deposit: WBSEDCL earns Rs 11.94 cr

Kolkata: West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) has earned around Rs 11.94 crore on the account of security deposit from the temporary connections given to the puja pandals across the state during Durga Puja.

In addition to the amount, Rs 1.24 crore was realised by the WBSEDCL from imposing fines on the puja committees that had consumed power illegally during the four days of Durga puja this year.

According to a press statement issued by the additional General Manager, corporate communication, WBSEDCL, Biswarup Mukherjee on Tuesday said that from Sasthi to Nabamai, the various regional and divisional offices of the WBSDECL inspected around 20,370 puja pandals throughout the state among which around 6,188 puja committees were found to be have flouted the norms and illegally consumed power. These puja committees have been fined on the charges of illegally consuming electricity.

A bill of Rs 1.24 crore has been claimed for drawing 26,951 KVA from these committees. Around 1,441 LT mobile vans had been deployed to counter any fault or power disruption throughout the state. The press note said that for HT feeder maintenance, around 711 mobile vans were deployed during the Puja days and also for emergency purpose.

This year, the WBSEDCL has altogether provided 25,216 temporary puja connections throughout the state. For temporary connections, 325.64 MVA extra demands were met by the state Power department.

This has contributed greatly towards the generation of revenue by the department as the WBSEDCL has collected a huge amount of Rs 11.94 crore as security deposit from the temporary puja connections.

It may also be mentioned that all the district officials of the Power department were asked to remain on their toes and to visit the spot if any incidents of power failure is reported.

All the adequate preventive measures were also taken by the Power department to ensure uninterrupted power supply during the festive season.

State Power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay held a number of meetings with the senior officials of the power department in this regard.

Video conferences were done with various district officials giving them instructions on how to provide uninterrupted power supply in the districts as well.