NC headquarters among 148 power bill defaulters

JAMMU : Ruling National Conference’ headquarters ‘Nawai Subah’ is among the 148 power consumers who have been put on a two-week notice for defaulting payments of over Rs 10 lakh.
The ‘Nawai Subah’ in Srinagar owes Rs 11.49 lakh to the Power Development Department. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is the working president of NC, holds the Power Ministry charge in the State.
Of the Rs 59 crore owed to the department, BSNL, NHPC, BSF, JKTDC, Royal Spring Golf Course, MES are among the major defaulters with power arrears amounting over Rs 10 lakh each.
“Two week’s disconnection notice is hereby issued to the defaulting consumers having past arrears to Rs 10 lakh and above as on October 30,” a notification issued by Power development department said.
“The supply shall not be reconnected unless the consumer deposits the past dues. After the consumer deposits arrear dues, the installation shall be re-connected within two days as per the rules,” it said.
Top state business houses and hotels like Hotel 17 Miles, Jehlum Resort, Airtel, Hari Niwas Palace, and Batra hospital and Sheraz Cinema are among other major defaulters.
Renuka Food Industry in Jammu tops the list with Rs 12 cr arrears followed by S L Rubber Industry (Samba) with Rs 3.86 cr, J&K Pulp and Paper Pvt Ltd (Samba) Rs 2.01 cr, K P Paper mills (Samba) Rs 1.73 cr and and Tramboo joinery owned by Tramboo family of Kashmir Rs 1.01 crore.
The total outstanding against 120 defaulting consumers in Jammu province is Rs 51.74 crore. The similar outstanding amount against 28 defaulters in Kashmir is Rs 7.78 crore.
Hari Niwas Palace, formerly the residence of Maharaja Hari Singh, and owned by the family of Congress MP Dr Karan Singh and his son and NC legislator Ajatshatru Singh, which has been converted to a heritage hotel, owes the department Rs 98.3 lakh.
The Royal Spring Golf Course in Srinagar has over Rs 50 lakh power arrears followed by Hotel Ashoka, owned by ITDC, which owes over Rs 29 lakhs, ASCOMS Hospital (Batra) Rs 31 lakh, and Jhelum resorts, owned by top hotelier Mustaq Chaia, owes over Rs 25 lakh.
BSNL owes Rs 58 lakh in different exchanges followed by BSF with over Rs 10 lakh, NHPC (Railhead Jammu) Rs 17 lakh, Garrison Engineers of MES over Rs 1 crore, state-owned JKTDC Rs 20 lakh and Srinagar Development Authority Rs 14.54 lakh, it said.
Private telecom giant Bharti-Airtel owes Rs 40 lakh while Vodafone had Rs 11.63 lakh arrears, it said.
Kranti Hotel, Jammu has an outstanding amount of Rs 36 lakh, Sanson Bakers, Jammu Rs 1.2 crore.
Jammu-based businessman Bhim Raj owes Rs 1.2 cr and another Jammu-based businessman Sanjeev Verma owes Rs 59 lakh, it said. (AGENCIES)