M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, July 7: The Daltonganj division of the electricity corporation collected from consumers over Rs 4 crores during the last three months under the OTS scheme (one-time settlement).
Shambhu Nath Chowdhury, executive engineer of the Daltonganj division, said this recovery is against the outstanding dues of around Rs 7 crores of 2,818 consumers who were defaulters for having long drawn non-payment of the electricity bills and during the OTS availed the settlement benefits offered by the government.
Chowdhury said we have waived off DPS (delayed payment surcharge) over Rs 2 crores of 2,818 defaulter consumers.
The executive engineer further said we held in all 64 camps for the OTS where consumers visited us in thick numbers promising to clear their outstanding dues but many of them backtracked.
There are 12,000 defaulters in the Daltonganj division of electricity out of which only 2,818 consumers availed the OTS facility.
The executive engineer agreed a little over 9,000 consumers are still holding their unpaid bills for long.
The government launched the OTS scheme from 1.4.2023 to 30.6.2023. However, the OTS finally took off on April 4 at many divisions, including Daltonganj.
Chowdhury said we embarked on Urja Samwaad wherein we tapped Mukhiyas to ready and prepare the defaulter consumers of the electricity of their respective panchayats to pay the outstanding dues.
He said we feel the 9,000 defaulters ought not to have missed this great OTS scheme where waiving off the DPS was a guarantee.
