Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kavinder Gupta among Jammu's top power defaulters

Jammu Power Development Corporation Limited (JPDCL) has released a list revealing the names of over 150 people who have not cleared their electricity dues amounting to more than Rs 11 crore towards the J&K Power Department. What is even more surprising is the fact that the list includes names of some of the most prominent people of the territory, like former JK chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who owes more than Rs 4.5 lakh, and former JK Deputy CM and BJP leader Kavinder Gupta, among others. According to the Power Department, Azad is yet to pay Rs 4,69,342. The power department is likely to cut power for non-payment of the dues.

Reacting to the same, Chief Spokesperson of Azad’s Party, Salman Nizami, told the Republic that the majority of the amount was during Azad's tenure, when Azad was entitled to free electricity as minister and former minister, and the pendency has been cleared by Azad's office. The list has revealed that former and BJP's Kavinder Gupta owes more than 14 Lakh rupees to the electricity department.

When asked about the pending electricity bills, Kavinder Gupta told Republic that he has taken up the matter with officials of Jammu Power Development Corporation Limited (JPDCL) as the majority of electricity was consumed when he was in office as Jammu Kashmir Assembly Speaker and Deputy CM from 2014 to 2018.

"I took up the issue with officials of JPDCL and have informed them that a major portion of the bill was for time when I was holding the Office. For a long time, I wasn’t getting the bills delivered to my address, which I will be clearing by September this year, in accordance with the rules of the department," he said.

The other popular faces whose names are on the list include former minister Syed Basharat Bukhari, who owes 6.6 lakh to the power department; Former legislator Asiya Naqash, who owes 5.2 lakh; Former MoS Majeed Padder, who still has 8.7 lakh in unpaid dues; and GM Shah and Gharu Ram, who owe 2.39 Lakh each to the electricity department.

Jammu power department releases list on electricity dues

"To prevent further accumulation of outstanding electricity dues against consumers of various categories within JPDCL Distribution, it is hereby ordered that the physical service wire connections to any JPDCL consumer who has not paid his or her electricity dues for two or more successive calendar months should be disconnected immediately without any further notice," read the circular issued by the power department.

(Credit: Republic)

In the case of smart metered consumers, physical disconnections may be accomplished remotely through backend commands from the IT&C Division, JPDCL, and Jammu's Control Centre. Reconnections should be done only after full liquidation of pending arrears by the consumer," it added.