Tough time ahead for those government employees and pensioners in Haryana who have a habit of not paying the electricity bills on time as the state government has decided to take strict action against such working and retired employees.

A senior Haryana official said it had been noticed that some government employees and pensioners do not pay their electricity bill on time which is a violation of Rule 23 of the Haryana Civil Services (Government Employee Conduct) Rule 2016.

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“Rules are equivalent for all whether it is a common man or a government employee. If the government takes action against a common consumer for not paying electricity bills, the government employees should also be treated with action as per the rules. Thus the government has decided to act against such erring employees and pensioners,” he said.

A circular to this effect has been issued by the Chief Secretary, directed all the government employees and pensioners to make payment of outstanding electricity bills at the earliest and also adhere to the provisions of Haryana Civil Services (Government Employees’ Conduct) Rules, 2016, failing which strict action would be initiated against the defaulters, he added.

The official further stated that the state government has also decided recently that action would be taken against those government establishments that are not paying their electricity bills on time.

The Power Department has decided to punish such erring departments by disconnecting the supply and imposing other penalties as per the norms.

Data accessed by The Statesman reveals that more than Rs 953 Crore as electricity dues are still outstanding against various wings of the government departments, municipal committees (MCs) and Panchayats.

Interestingly, despite non-payment of this huge amount, as many as 2195 such consumers including 847 from the Irrigation department, 80 Municipal Committees (MCs), 712 Panchayats, 111 Panchayat Water Works (PWWs) and 445 other such government consumers are still connected with the power supply.

The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has 626 such consumers while the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has 1596 such consumers.

Among the top such defaulters are various buildings and offices of the Irrigation Department with over Rs 392 Crore as pending electricity bills, followed by the MCs with over Rs 296 Crore, PWWs with over Rs 162 Crore, Panchayats with more than Rs 19 Crore  while others having over Rs 116 Crore as pending dues.