Shaming to prevent shame

Malout : Officials of the Water Supply and Sanitation Department here have hired dholis to shame water bill defaulters. All this to recover Rs 6 crore and pay the Rs 2.5-crore electricity bills the department has defaulted on and avoid disconnection in the face of a belligerent Punjab State Power Corporation Limited.
Power supply to the department was discontinued on February 28; it was restored  when the officials paid Rs 5 lakh and promised that a major chunk of dues would be paid by March 31.“People are not keen on paying water and sewerage bills. We can’t move court as there is not enough time. So, we have opted for this method to recover the dues,” said Rakesh Mohan Makkar, SDO, Malout. He added, “Two of our teams, accompanied by dholis, went door to door today to collect dues. The first day’s results have been encouraging (Rs 3 lakh). When the dholi starts beating the drum, the defaulter feels embarrassed and pays up.”