Tangedco to local bodies: Pay up or no new connection

In a letter to the chief engineers of all the distribution regions, Tangedco has instructed not to provide new service connections to the local bodies that have pending dues. “Existing service connections should continue. Only new applications in that particular local body should not be entertained. Only if the dues are cleared, new service connections shall be effected,” read the letter.

The letter also warns the officials of serious action if they deviate from the order. There are nine distribution regions in the State namely Chennai North, Chennai South, Coimbatore, Erode, Madurai, Tiruchy, Tirunelveli, Vellore and Villupuram.

As per Tangedco records, local bodies in the State owe a whopping Rs 583.29 crore to the power distributor as outstanding dues beyond 60 days as on October 1, 2019. Of this, village panchayats have outstanding dues of Rs 327.67 crore and city corporations Rs 157.40 crore.

On the other hand, Erode distribution region has to receive Rs 119.34 crore from the local bodies, which is highest among the nine regions. Also, Tiruchy and Madurai regions have an outstanding of Rs 95.81 crore and Rs 93.95 crore respectively.

Apart from this, the department of education, police, public works, revenue, health, courts, forest and others have outstanding dues of more than Rs 50 lakh.

While various government departments have an outstanding power bill to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore, Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board tops the list of defaulters with pending dues running up to Rs 900 crore. The local bodies have the second-highest outstanding dues among the government agencies.

“The large overdue by government departments has made it difficult for the electricity utility to pay the private power generators and for undertaking other development works,” said a Tangedco official.