Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar has directed the officials concerned to take steps to ensure that gram panchayats (GPs) and municipalities pay power bills every month.
Any deviation from the payment will be viewed seriously, he said. It was decided to separate arrears and a decision on payment of arrears would be taken later. The Chief Secretary convened a meeting with officials of electricity distribution companies, Municipal Administration and Panchayat Raj departments to resolve issues relating to payment of power bills on Friday. The meeting was convened on the instructions of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
The Chief Secretary asked the officials of the two discoms to prepare a detailed report on arrears within a week duly reconciling the figures with the GPs and municipalities. Officials should present detailed report and options relating to arrears before the Chief Minister took a decision on arrears related to local bodies.
Joint teams of discoms, GPs and municipal officials should be constituted to resolve discrepancies in the bills like those pertaining to borewells.
The Chief Secretary instructed the officials to ensure that discoms generate their bills on the basis of meter reading. Meters should be fixed in places where they had not been fixed yet and the process should be completed within a month.
