Iesco recovers Rs1 billion from 27 govt departments

Islamabad : The Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) on Friday has reinstated power supply to 27 federal and provincial government departments in Rawalpindi and Islamabad including President Secretariat and Parliament Lodges after payment of Rs1.059 billion.

The Iesco has recovered Rs703.317 million from 14 departments in Rawalpindi Circle under control of provincial government, while recovered Rs356.54 million from 13 departments in Islamabad Circle under control of federal government.

The concerned department has refused to reinstate power supply to Municipal Corporation Murree due to not payment of Rs27 million. The power supply of Capital Development Authority (CDA), Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi, WASA and Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) has been reinstated for the time being because they have paid only 20 per cent amount against total dues.

According to details, Iesco has reinstated power supply of CDA on payment of Rs113.28 million, MES Islamabad paid Rs123 million, President Secretariat paid Rs0.5 million, Parliament Lodges paid Rs1.2 million, Pak PWD paid Rs1.8 million, Ministry of Interior paid Rs6.13 million, Poly Clinic paid Rs18.66 million, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) paid Rs60 million, Passport and Immigration Department paid Rs1.25 million, Federal Education Ministry paid Rs6.27 million, Chief Commissioner Islamabad office paid Rs2.8 million, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police paid Rs12.5 million and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) departments under Federal Government paid Rs7.53 million.

Similarly in Rawalpindi Circle, Iesco has reinstated power supply Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) after payment of Rs16.5 million, MES Rawalpindi Rs209 million, Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR) Rs13.79 million, Joint Staff Headquarters paid Rs34 million, CWO paid Rs108 million, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government departments under provincial government paid Rs155 million, Punjab Police paid Rs3.16 million, PTCL paid Rs10.36 million, WASA paid Rs33.46 million, GE Department paid Rs32.3 million, Benazir Bhutto Hospital paid Rs6.5 million, New Airport Islamabad paid Rs50 million and KRL paid Rs9.93 million.

The Chaklala Cantonment Board has promised to pay dues of Rs25 million within 24 hours otherwise Iesco will cut down connections of this department.

The Iesco official spokesman Raja Asim Nazir told ‘The News’ that we have reinstated power supply of 27 government departments after clearing dues of Rs1.059 billion. Some of government departments have paid only 20 to 40 per cent dues as first instalment of the original dues. If they don’t paid the remaining dues, we will disconnect power supply again, he warned. He said that we are following clear directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan in this regard.

He said that in the case of private consumers, the company usually disconnects the connections only after one month of the bill’s due date.

In case of government departments, Iesco waits almost six months, he said, as government departments sometimes argue that the bill is not accurate or will try to adjust it against some other account heads.

“In this case departments were continuously delaying the payments due to which it was decided to disconnect their connections. However the process of reconciling the bills or dues would continue,” he said.