JAIPUR: Dues running into crores have forced the PHED and power department to launch special drives to recover the unpaid bills . However, the recovery amount is far less than the outstanding dues. Customers owe Jaipur discom over Rs 2,584 crore by January 2019 while the PHED has pending receivables of Rs 583 crore.Camps have been organised and seizure of properties is also being done in various parts of the city to recover the money. PHED also cut off water connections of four hotels and Sadar police station. The police station hasn’t paid dues of Rs 1.84 lakh for over a year and it also had two illegal water connections.A hotel belonging to former minister Prabhu Lal Saini was also included in the list of hotels at which the water supply was disconnected though the former minister denied to have any direct connection with the ownership of the hotel.Chief Engineer of PHED Islamuddin Khan while talking to TOI said “Action for recovery has been going on and we will cut the connection of the houses of commercial places if they won’t pay the bill after receiving notices. Generally people pay after action has been taken against them but for others we can submit the matter to the district collector who can take the matters further.”Government offices alone owe Jaipur discom Rs 453 crore. The department is running an amnesty scheme which is valid till March 31 under which if a person pays the outstanding due will be given a rebate on the interest penalty.An official of Jaipur discom said, “We usually cut off the electricity connection of the consumer for the unpaid bills as taking a legal action involves many hurdles and the procedure is very lengthy.”Although these measures are being taken by both departments, PHED has been able to recover just Rs 34 crore. The amount of the unpaid bills keep on rising every year.

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