This story is from January 8, 2021

Discoms crack the whip on bill defaulters in Telangana's Nizamabad

Several government offices in Nizamabad are struggling for electricity as power supply in the offices has been disconnected due to non-payment of dues. Although the officials are approaching the electricity staff to restore power supply, they are being told that the power will be restored only after they clear the dues.
Discoms crack the whip on bill defaulters in Telangana's Nizamabad
Representative image
HYDERABAD: Several government offices in Nizamabad are struggling for electricity as power supply in the offices has been disconnected due to non-payment of dues. Although the officials are approaching the electricity staff to restore power supply, they are being told that the power will be restored only after they clear the dues.
Some offices, including gram panchayats, have to clear lakhs of rupees as dues.
The Bodhan Revenue Divisional Office in Nizamabad also lost power due to pending dues.
A tahsildar had to plead with an assistant engineer to restore power supply in his office as they had some land registrations to complete. It is learnt that the power supply was given through an alternative electricity meter, but officials were informed that the rules were clear that unless pending dues were cleared power supply will not be restored. The tahsildar’s office has pending dues of Rs 3.61 lakh. An MPDO’s office has Rs 1.8 lakh dues and several government schools are also said to owe power dues.
A Telangana State Northern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSNPDCL) official said that because of power supply being disconnected, pending dues were getting cleared from various offices. Sometimes government offices cite delay in release of budget for being unable to pay the bills in time.
There are, however, some technical issues because of which government officials have had to go without power. An assistant engineer of Renjal, E Kishan, said the pre-paid electricity meters had to be recharged by the offices when there is no balance left. “If this is not done, power supply goes off automatically. However, if the amount is deposited again, power supply is restored,” he said.
Electricity officials had categorised government offices into emergency and non-emergency services. The collector’s office, police stations, government hostels, fire stations and government hospitals were put in emergency category and were exempt from penal action. However, other offices would have to pay the bills.
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About the Author
Ch Sushil Rao

Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.

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