Demonetisation: Telangana govt taps forgotten sources for revenue

Hyderabad: The monetary crisis has forced the TS government to look for avenues to tap all possible financial resources including ones like the long-forgotten Rs 30 per month customer charges by the electricity department.

Many farmers who have agricultural power connections for borewells don’t bother paying the meagre Rs 30 per month customer charges or service charges, and officials too don’t force them to pay up. This has resulted in the service charges accumulating to a couple of hundred crore rupees.

Various departments, including gram panchayats, owe the power utilities nearly Rs 2,000 crore, it is learnt. With demonetisation hitting the state hard, the government suddenly woke up and started leaning on electricity officials to collect the long-pending dues, ranging from Rs 30 to Rs 10,000.

Officials say that the dues now total around Rs 200 crore, and they have begun collecting the amount on the instructions of government in view of severe financial crisis the state is facing. Telangana state, which largely depends on borewells for cultivation, has 9.90 lakh agricultural pumpsets.

Electricity officials are calling on farmers and urging them to clear the dues through the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. “Though farmers have to pay just Rs 30 per month, and despite the agriculture sector being given free power, even this amount has not been paid and neither did our officials insist on payment over the years. Due to the revenue crisis, we are forced to collect it,” a senior official said.

In Medak district, Kuppanagar village alone owes Rs 2.5 lakh towards customer charges and electricity officials have begun collecting the dues. The state government has already sounded a red alert fearing a revenue loss of Rs 3,000 crore this financial year.

During the GHMC polls, the TRS government waived power arrears for consumers who use up to 100 units a month. The arrears, including delayed payment surcharge total Rs 52.42 crore.