CHANDIGARH: Every year the defaulting amount of PSPCL from government and non-government consumers is increasing despite a one time settlement scheme and free 300 units monthly free power for domestic consumers.
PSPCL.s defaulting amount has risen to Rs.4637 crores by the end of February 24 that includes Rs.2764 crores from government departments and Rs.1873 crores from other consumers. At the end of last financial year 2022-23 the defaulting amount was Rs.4240 crores.
In PSPCL West zone and Border zone almost equals each other in defaulting amount of Rs 1262 crores each for government and non-government defaulters.. This is followed by south zone Rs.1033 crores, north zone Ras.649 crores and central zone Rs.371 crores.
The pending bills of various state governments departments have increased by more than 13 % from Rs. 2430 crores to RS.2764 crores and for non- government consumers the increase is of 3.5% from Rs.1810 crores to Rs.1873 crores.
The four big defaulters are the water supply and sanitation department with Rs.1085 crores, Local government Rs.996 crores , Rural development and Panchayat Rs. 318 crores and Health department with Rs.150 crores. These four departments cumulatively owe Rs 2, 549 crores, which is 92.2 per cent of the total defaulting amount.
The other departments with significant dues are the sewerage board (Rs 77 crore), home affairs and jails (Rs 24 crore), and public works Rs.22 crores.
There are 8 circles of PSPCL each with defaulting amount of Rs. 150 crores or more by government departments , led by Gurdaspur Rs.306 crores, Bhatinda Rs.253 crores, Muktsar Rs.253 crores, Amritsar city 185 crores and Mohali 181 crores. Other three circles in this category are Patiala, Amritsar sub-urban and Sangrur.
Amongst non-government defaulters there are 10 circles with more than Rs.100 crores against each.The four big circles in non government defaulting amount are Sub-urban Amritsar Rs.192 crores, Muktsar Rs.191 crores, Bhatinda Rs.162 crores. And Jalandhar Rs.Rs.159 crores respectively.
The financial survival of the PSPCL hinges on the clearance of dues of defaulting government departments and timely payment of subsidy . PSPCL failed to pay in time employees’ salaries and pensions sometime back. The cash-strapped PSPCL is now dependent on the long-term and short-term loans