GUJRAT: The electricity bills of Gujrat Municipal Corporation’s water supply branch have decreased considerably due to the joint monitoring of power consumption by the senior officials of MC and the Gujranwala Electricity Power Company (Gepco).

At least Rs15 million have been saved during the last couple of months in power bills as compared to those of October and November 2019.

MC Administrator Saif Anwar told Dawn that because of the joint monitoring of the electricity consumption by MC’s water supply turbines across the city resulted in reduction in the bill to Rs7.8m, as compared to Rs9.9m in the corresponding period last year.

Similarly, he said the bill of November was Rs8.3m as compared to 12.7m in the same month in 2019.

He gave credit of successful joint monitoring to the Gepco superintendent engineer for his cooperation with the MC in this regard.

In a bid to minimise pilferage in fuel bills, the authorities had earlier decided to install trackers on at least 40 vehicles used for lifting solid waste from various parts of the city. It is being expected that the step would help cut the MC’s fuel budget from current Rs4m down to Rs2.5m to Rs3m a month.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has also launched a strict monitoring of the tax generating sections of the civic authorities to check connivance of officials with tax evaders, particularly in the commercialisation, conversion and building design fees.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2020