Prakasam villages to face blackouts
All village panchayats of Prakasam district will face darkness soon due to non-payment of electricity bills. Transco has issued notices to panchayats asking them to pay electricity bills pending from 2009 or face removal of electricity connections.
The Southern Power Distribution Corporation Limited has started action to collect pending bills and issued notices to 1,057 village panchayats, asking them to pay pending bills. These panchayats have to pay nearly Rs.80 lakh per month for the use of electricity for street lights, water supply and others. Transco is also planning to collect surcharge on these pending bills which will increase the financial burdens on these local bodies.
According to records, these panchayats have to pay Rs.29,74,71,011, pending from 2009, and Rs.9.02 crore surcharge is applicable on these bills. There are no elected bodies for village panchayats, hence villagers worry about Transco cutting power connections.
Founder president of Sta-te Sarpanches Association G. Veerabhadrachari said that Transco should collect bills from state government, but were pressurising local bodies instead. He said that panchayats were burdened with the absence of basic amenities due to lack of funds and demanded that electricity supply be continued. Admitting payment of one month electricity bills by village panchayats, Transco senior accountant P. Ramdas said that the department had taken the issue to the notice of district higher officials and were awaiting a response. He clarified that Transco was going to stop power supply to panchayat offices first and later, cut supply to street lights and water connections.
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