Chandigarh, Aug 25 (PTI) The Haryana government on Thursday announced a scheme under which it will waive surcharge and interest on electricity bills if defaulters pay the principal amount.
Under the ‘Electricity Surcharge Waiver Scheme 2022′, defaulting power consumers can pay the amount in three installments along with the respective months’ bills, but will get an additional discount of five per cent if they pay the principal amount in one go.
Announcing that the scheme endeavours to encourage defaulters clear their outstanding bills, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said it is applicable to domestic connections as well as government departments that haven’t cleared their dues till last December.
“We are bringing a scheme in which we are waiving surcharge and interest. They can pay the principal amount either at one go or give it in three installments,” Khattar told reporters.
Power consumers whose bill dispute cases are pending in any judicial forum will also be able to avail the scheme provided they withdraw the cases.
According to Additional Chief Secretary, power department, P K Das, the cumulative outstanding amount by domestic rural consumers is over Rs 4,000 crore while the outstanding for urban consumers is Rs 759 crore. These are inclusive of surcharge.
Khattar said the surcharge will be waived gradually over a period of one year if the defaulters pay their bills regularly. However, if they default again, they will have to pay the entire outstanding amount.
For government departments, the late payment surcharge will be re-calculated at the simple rate of 10 per cent per annum, whereas it is currently calculated at the rate of 1.5 per cent per month.
In another move, the chief minister extended by six months the ‘Samadhan se Vikas’ scheme, a one-time settlement scheme for the recovery of long-pending dues on account of External Development Charges (EDC) against encroachers and developers.
This scheme will be applicable with some modifications to recover EDC of approximately Rs 7,000 crore to Rs 8,000 crore, he said.
“We had earlier come out with the ‘Samadhan se Vikas’ scheme, which was supposed to end on August 15 after a two-year run.
“Many developers benefitted and we recovered nearly Rs 2,000 crore EDC from them…some developers demanded that this scheme be extended for some more time. So, we are extending it for six more months with some modifications,” Khattar said.
Also, to recover the outstanding Rs 2,113 crore Passenger and Goods Tax till March 31, 2017, the chief minister announced a one-time settlement scheme.
Touching upon the issue of lumpy skin disease in the state, Khattar said 52,544 animals in 3,497 villages have been affected, of which 29,104 cows and other cattle have recovered while about 23,000 of them remain infected.
Of the 600 gaushalas, 286 are affected, he said.
So far, 633 animals have died due to the disease and the prevalence is higher in districts bordering Punjab, he said.
Of the approximately 19.5 lakh cows and other cattle in the state, 2.45 lakh have been vaccinated, Khattar said, adding the vaccination drive is being carried out at a rapid pace. PTI SUN VSD CJ CJ
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
