Srinagar, Mar 5 (KNS): Thousands of consumers have availed the amnesty scheme that was launched by the government to benefit the people whose bills had piled up on account of electricity charges and the PDD expects the figure may touch lakhs after evaluation of date.
The Government had reduced the electricity duty from existing 22 per cent to 10 per cent in respect of all categories of consumers who wanted to avail amnesty.
Chief Engineer Power Development Department, Bashir Ahmad Khan told KNS that the amnesty will continue upto its deadline of 31st of this month.
“A good number of people in the Valley availed the scheme. The figure may touch lakhs,” Khan told KNS.
“We don’t have the exact figure of the consumers who availed the scheme and the amount of money that we have collected. After March 31, we will come to know the exact figure after examining the data,” he said.
When the scheme was approved by the PDP-BJP government last year, it had to fetch Rs 250 crores revenue from the consumers due to the scheme.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
Through the scheme the PDD has rationalized electricity duty by reducing the existing rate of 22% to 10% in respect of all consumers from the date of notification.
The govenrment had approved waiver of 100% surcharge on outstanding electricity bills as on 1st August 2015, provided the domestic consumer makes the outstanding payment by or before 31st March 2016, in maximum of four equal installments.
However, the domestic and agriculture (excluding government) categories of consumers who have fully paid their bills shall not be eligible under this scheme.
The chief engineer told KNS that to aware the people about the scheme, awareness campaigns were launched by holding special camps for successful implementation of the scheme.
“The response to the scheme was overwhelming and we also ensured it reached to all corners of the Valley so that consumers could avail it. In rural areas, we launched awareness through loudspeakers,” he said. (KNS)