—
From Sandeep Sharma
GUWAHATI: Assam government has introduced the “no power bill payment, no salary” policy for all the state government employees in a bid to strengthen three loss-making power companies of the state.
In a notification, the Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL) has directed to instruct all drawing and disbursing officers (DDO) to ensure “no dues payable against Electricity Bill of APDCL”.
“APDCL system generated payment receipt of current electricity bill may be considered as proof of payment for this purpose,” stated a notification issued by APDCL managing director on Saturday.
While reviewing the activities of three power companies in a meeting on June 6, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has directed the state power department to recover the unpaid electricity bills of government officials directly from their salaries.
The chief minister also instructed the officials to prepare a report of the officials whose electricity bills are pending.
Sarma has said that power theft by a section of consumers makes the APDCL suffer around Rs 300 crore loss per month, which leads to a hike in power tariff affecting the honest power consumers.
