Assam: System-generated receipt may be considered proof of payment, the letter said (Representational).
The Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL) has urged the state government to release the salaries of its employees for June only if they clear their electricity bills.
Following a directive from Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the APDCL managing director has issued a letter to senior officials of the Assam government and requested them to ensure payment of power bills by their employees.
"Some fraudulent consumers adopted dubious methods to save electricity bills causing huge loss of revenue to APDCL. To recover this loss and to pay for power purchase, APDCL is compelled to approach to Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission to increase the rate of energy tariff. The public, in general, have to bear the brunt of this increased rate in electricity tariff as the resultant load of the loss generated from the defaulting consumers is compensated from the general public," Mr Sarma said.
The letter, written on June 13, urged the government to instruct all Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDO) to ensure the collection of "no dues payable against Electricity bill of APDCL" certificates for all employees before processing salary bills on or before June 30.
"APDCL system-generated payment receipt of current electricity bill may be considered as proof of payment for this purpose," it said.
The APDCL MD wrote the letter to the Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, and Commissioner, and Secretaries of all departments under the Assam government.