A shame for the PDD
The Power Development Department in Jammu and Kashmir, especially Kashmir Valley has been making all sorts of headlines and most of the time for wrong reasons. The department which wastes no time and energy to harass the common people in the valley has been on the receiving end when it comes to getting the power dues from the high and the mighty.
The PDDís inefficiency has come to the fore after an RTI was filed to get the details of the defaults who have eluded to pay bills worth lakhs and crores of rupees. After the revelation the PDD bosses made the list public which they until now were hiding and keeping away from the gaze of the common man.
Now the PDD has woken up and is threatening its consumers who have defaulted that their electricity connections will be disconnected. What has come as a shock is that the list of defaulters includes politicians, top businessmen, telecom firms and security installations, besides some well connected people.
The PDD defaulters include Airtel, BSNL, Reliance JioInfocomm, Reliance Communications, with their outstanding power dues running in lakhs of rupees. The list includes Hotel Kahkashan, which has been housing security forces for the past three decades, as the biggest defaulter with an outstanding bill of Rs 3.78 crores.
Ikhwan hotel, which has been with the CRPF since 1990s, has an outstanding power bill of Rs 2.77 crore while Shiraz Cinema, another building under the occupation of security forces for long, owes a sum of Rs 1.30 crore to PDD. Few industrial houses like Mir Steel Rolling Mills in Pulwama and Trumboo Joinery Mills are two of the biggest defaulters among the business houses, having outstanding sums of Rs 2.61 crore and Rs 2.33 crores respectively.
Three individual connections registered in three different names have outstanding dues of Rs 2.08 crore, Rs 2.1 crore and Rs 1.48 crore respectively. A firm registered in the name of businessman-turned-politician Imran Ansari, owes Rs 52 lakh to PDD.
PDP leader and former Hazratbal MLA AasiyaNaqashhas an outstanding amount of Rs 13.66 lakh as electricity bill at her residence and a sum of Rs 29.80 lakh against her security installations.
The list of defaulters includes various government departments, religious bodiesane even shrines and mosques. The famed Shankaracharya temple in the Zabarwan hills owes the PDD an amount of Rs 61 lakh.
The list of defaulters is long enough and the failure of PDD to get them to task has been a failure. This ill functioning of the department has cost it loss worth crores of rupees as the list of defaulters that has surfaced shows that more than 100 crore is outstanding against these high and the powerful people who have been taking the PDD for a ride so far.
The failure of the PDD also highlights the attitude of the officials of the department when it comes to dealing with the common consumers. Not only is the common manís energy requirement compromised with but the way they are made to pay their dues through their noses is also somewhat loathsome at times.
KV Network
