INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Darkness progressively swallows up street after street throughout towns at sunset, for about a month now, as state-run power distribution
business (discoms) and the cash-strapped municipalities lock horns over pending electrical energy costs
Some of the costs are outstanding considering that 2014
According to an authorities in the Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Ltd (MGVCL), 35 towns owed the company Rs 82 crore till January 31
And, this time, the discoms seem to be in no state of mind to let fees spill over to the next financial year.Discoms are now snapping power
connections of streetlights, even offices, as the only instrument to goad the civic bodies to pay up
Completion result leaves people searching their way house in the dark.Sources in discoms say just a handful of towns are able to pay their
bills within the deadline every billing cycle
A number of have actually collected dues facing crores of rupees
Almost all towns have charges
After we sent them notifications in the current past and disconnected power supply for streetlights, they have started clearing charges
partially, an authorities stated
The power supply to Godhra, Balasinor, Borsad, and some other towns, was cut to make sure payments.Of the 19 towns in south Gujarat, the
Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company Ltd (DGVCL) is facing payment issues in Bharuch and Narmada districts
All others in south Gujarat are regular, a DGVCL officer said.In Saurashtra and Kutch, the Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Ltd (PGVCL) is
aggressively demanding payment of exceptional bills by cutting power for water supply to around 20 towns last month, consisting of Morbi,
Sixty-two municipalities owe Rs 316 crore, jointly, to PGVCL, from 2014 up to the end of December 2022
In 2014, too, a settlement was gotten here in which PGVCL waived off the interest of past outstanding charges, assisting the Gujarat
Municipal Finance Board and the metropolitan development department to pay up the exceptional principal quantity with ease
In north Gujarat, Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Ltd (UGVCL) has outstanding charges of Rs 58.7 crore as on January 31
For their part, the towns compete that the healing of taxes and the rate of different taxes and charges are not enough to fulfill their
