August 24, 2007	Friday	Sha’aban 10, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Aug 23: Electricity arrears amounting to Rs1,264 million (Rs1.264 billion) are pending against various government departments functioning in the Rawalpindi district, including the General Headquarters (GHQ).

A majority of these government offices have been accumulating power tariff arrears for the last six to eight months and have paid no heed to the notices served by Iesco, seeking outstanding money that was to be paid before the end of July.

Documents obtained by Dawn on Thursday from the Iesco Rawalpindi area reveals that the non-payment of electricity bills pending against government offices, run by federal and provincial governments, army-run institutions and autonomous bodies in the Rawalpindi district, are causing huge revenue losses to Wapda.

Electricity arrears against the government departments across the country would be equally appalling, which indicates that the major cause of Wapda’s revenue losses is due to non-payment of electricity bills by the government itself.

For example, the Military Engineering Services (MES), also known as Garrison Engineering Army Services, is yet to pay a Rs375 million outstanding electricity bill, followed by the Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB), which is in arrears to the tune of Rs134 million.

The offices working in Rawalpindi under the control of the Azad Jammu Kahmir (AJK) government are payment defaulters of Rs510 million in power charges to Iesco and are in arrears for the last six months.

The GHQ Joint Staff is to pay over Rs9 million to Iesco, while the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB), which imposes new taxes on its residents, including tax on five-marla residential property, is to make payment of Rs105 million for its electricity consumption.

The Punjab Police are nonpayers of Rs105.8 million as power tariff and the Iesco officials complained that they often get a perverse response from the police department after serving a notice on them.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Pakistan Railways (PR) are yet to pay Rs8 million and Rs6 million, respectively, in Iesco dues, while the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) is a defaulter of Rs12 million to Iesco.

Similarly, the Pakistan Public Works Department (Pak PWD), Garrison Engineering Air, National Logistic Cell (NLC), Frontier Works Organization (FWO) and Pakistan Telecommunication Ltd (PTCL) are yet to pay Rs33 million, Rs47 million, Rs2 million, Rs1.7 million and Rs4 million, respectively, as energy arrears against these departments.

The Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is not an exception in regularly paying its energy bills either, which amount to Rs1.2 million. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has to pay Rs1.2 million to Iesco.