PSPCL targets power bill defaulters, mostly Akali Dal leaders

CHANDIGARH : Punjab State Power Corporation Linited (PSPCL) has launched tirade against power bill defaulters most of them belonging to Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) who had not paid their bill for years together. The defaulters included henchmen of Badal family. The PSPCL officials had disconnected power supply to the residence of Dyal Sikh Kallianwali, a henchman of Badal family who owes Rs.23 lakhs to the power authority. It is learnt that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had directed the PSPCL not to charge power billls of his supporters.There are 4269 defaulters in Badal sub division alone. In Lambi constituency of Badal out of 30821 power consumers, 14897 are the defaulters which means every second household is defaulter.
As per reports the power connection of Dyal Singh Kollianwali was in the name of his son Parminder Singh Killianwali. He has clained that PSPCL had sent him inflated bill. Another Akali Jathedar and close aide of Badal, Pappi Tarmala who was defaulter for Rs.One lakhs had paid his dues on the spot while many other have promised to pay the dues by Monday or Tuesday.The authorities of PSPCL have issued orders to disconnect the power supply of all defaulters who were not paying bills due to political connections.Interestingly, the PSPCL chairman an appointee of Badal had earlier given verbal insturctions to officials not to charge bill from Akali leaders. The sources said that Chairman is still defending the SAD leaders but the senior officers of Chief Engineer level had issued strict orders to divisional and Sub divisional officers to recover the dues or disconect the power of defaulters.