HYDERABAD, June 21: The Hyderabad Electric Supply Company has started disconnecting the power supply to major government defaulters after the expiry of an ultimatum earlier given by the company chief.

A Hesco statement here on Monday said that the power supply to the Hyderabad Cantonment Board, Hyderabad Development Authority and Taluka Municipal Administration had been disconnected.

Hesco chief executive Adeebul Hassan Rizvi while speaking at a news conference on June 16 had warned that if defaulters failed to clear their outstanding dues latest by June 20, their power supply would be disconnected.

According to him an amount of Rs408 million was outstanding against the federal government departments and Rs1,727 million against the Sindh government departments.

He said that the Sindh government had paid only Rs450 million out of the above amount which was already reconciled. An amount of Rs900 million is outstanding against TMAs of the province while a total amount of Rs6,297 million is outstanding against the industrial, commercial and domestic consumers.

As far as the Hyderabad Cantonment Board and HDA/WASA are concerned, Rs70 million and Rs122 million are outstanding against them, respectively. The Hesco chief notified that Wapda had announced a package of incentives whereby all federal and provincial government departments and autonomous bodies had been asked to clear their outstanding bills by June 30 without any extra charges/penalties.

He said that if payments were made by the above deadline, they would be given rebate in the shape of waiver of late payment surcharges levied on all previous non-payments of bills.

He said that departments might deposit their arrears excluding late payment surcharge (LPS) by June 30 and avail this opportunity of exemption from the payment of surcharge.

WATER SUPPLY: The district coordination officer has said that power supply to the filter plant of the Hyderabad Development Authority remained suspended from 11pm Sunday night to 5am Monday morning and from about 11am to 4pm.

The DCO, who also holds office of the HDA director-general, said that water supply to various parts of the city was seriously affected because of the breakdowns and added that normal water supply to the residents would be restored in two days, provided that there were no more disruptions in the power supply.