PANAJI
The Power Minister Nilesh Cabral on Friday announced that the One Time Settlement (OTS) Scheme has been extended till January 31, 2021.
He said that the department till date has recovered Rs 113 crore dues from defaulters. Cabral has also urged defaulters to come forward and take benefit of the scheme.
"1,63,322 consumers have still not paid their dues and Rs 300.97 crores is yet to be recovered", said Cabral.
Explaining the reason for the extension to the scheme Cabral said that the process of the scheme was hindered as electricity officials were busy with Zilla Panchayat election duties.
He also attributed extra holidays and the Coronavirus pandemic for the slow implementation of the scheme.
Cabral said that due to the festive season disconnection drives have not been implemented and implementation has been started after December 26.
He said that to fulfill the prime objective of money recovery the scheme has been extended for one more month.
Cabral said that initially 2.06 lakh consumers had not paid their dues. This is figure is now reduced to 1.63 lakh odd consumers with the implementation of the scheme.
Cabral said that recovery of long-pending electricity dues from the Corporation of City of Panaji is one the biggest achievement of the scheme.
"CCP has paid the dues taking advantage of the scheme. CCP paid has Rs 2.37 crore. Remaining has been waived off", he said.
