ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) on Thursday cut power to five government departments who have not cleared dues totalling approximately Rs51.3 million.

The departments include the chief commissioner’s office, the Capital Development Authority, the National Police Bureau, the Ministry of Federal Education and the Rawal Town Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA).

A statement issued by Iesco said that action was taken as part of a campaign against defaulters, and a total of 56 connections were disconnected.

A total of 14 connections at the chief commissioner’s office were disconnected due to Rs18.8m in unpaid dues, while 10 CDA connections were disconnected due to Rs6m in unpaid dues.

Iesco disconnected 26 education ministry connections for failing to pay the company Rs4m, and five Rawal Town TMA connections were disconnected because it had not cleared Rs21m in unpaid dues. One connection at the National Police Bureau was disconnected over dues of Rs1.2m.

Iesco media coordinator Raja Asim told Dawn that in the case of private consumers, the company usually disconnects connections a month after the bill’s due date.

In case of government departments, Iesco waits almost six months, he said, as government departments sometimes argue that the bill is not accurate or will try to adjust it against some other account heads.

“In this case departments were continuously delaying the payments due to which it was decided to disconnect their connections. However the process of reconciling the bills or dues would continue,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2018