PANAJI
The Sports Department, dozens of units attached to the Public Works and Water Resources Departments; Corporation of City of Panaji, and the Court of Civil Judge Senior Division & Chief Judicial Magistrate are among over 3,190 defaulters against whom the Electricity Department has begun the process of temporary disconnection.
The total outstanding bills come to around Rs 312.60 crores with at least 70 per cent of defaulters being government departments, corporations and civic bodies.
Details tabled by Power Minister Ramkrishna Dhavalikar in the Assembly stated that illuminated staircases at St Inez and Altinho as well as other beautification projects under the PWD and CCP have generated bills between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3.1 lakh, which are unpaid.
Ironically, despite initiating the disconnection process, these defaulting offices remain unaffected.
Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation leads the list with arrears of Rs 4,33,234.07 while the PWD’s illuminated staircase in St Inez owes approximately Rs 2.6 lakh.
The CCP building itself has an outstanding bill of Rs 2,62,206.33 while the public garden at La Campala Colony managed by the CCP owes Rs 3,32,129.01 and Lake View Colony at Miramar Rs 1,97,428.63. A portion of Miramar area under PWD owes Rs 2,03,800.84 to the department.
The Director of Health Services owes Rs 1,16,113.57. Details further reveal that the Court of Civil Judge Senior Division & CJM in Altinho has arrears amounting to Rs 1,22,825.23. The illuminated area near the Campal swimming pool under PWD owes Rs 5,06,248.37 and the illumination below the new Mandovi Bridge under CCP has an outstanding amount of Rs 9,19,188.27.
Despite these huge outstanding bills, the minister stated that the department, being controlled by the State Government, is not directly affected.
“The outstanding dues attract a delayed payment charge of 1.5 percent per month and such amounts are ultimately recovered. Even after some delay, the inclusion of such charges increases the overall revenue to the department and ultimately the government,” he said.