From Jatinder SharmaMEHAM, Dec 16 — The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today said today that outstanding power bills would not be waived under any circumstance.
At the “sarkar aapke dwar” programme here today, the Chief Minister said no development project would be undertaken in villages that did not clear the bills.
This is,
perhaps, for the first time that the Chief Minister has directly appealed to the people to clear their bills. He left nobody in doubt that he means what he says”.
When the gram panchayat of Nidana village demanded a 33-KV sub-station in their village, Mr Chautala asked it to first clear the outstanding power bills. “I will lay the foundation stone of the sub-station the day you pay the outstanding bills, he told the village panchayat. Consumers of Nidana jointly owe Rs 1.39 crore to the HVPN.
Following the carrot and stick policy, the government has further extended the surcharge waiver scheme by a month beyond November 30. This has been done reportedly on the request of farmers who argued that they had not yet received the price of their paddy from traders and wanted more time to pay the outstanding bills.
Holding a list of the defaulting villages in his hand, Mr Chautala consulted it before responding to the demands of any village panchayat. He advised the members of the Mokhra panchayat, native village of INLD legislator Balbir Singh, alias Bali Pehalwan, to pay the bills failing which they may lose their “claim for MLA-ship”.
A majority of the panchayats, who met the Chief Minister at the “sarkar aapake dwar” venue, demanded pavement of streets in their villages, upgradation of schools, construction of additional rooms in schools and old-age homes (bridh ashram).
The Chief Minister sanctioned old-age homes for over six villages and directed the district authorities to remove encroachments on panchayat or government land in a few villages. He refused to entertain individual problems and made it clear that the programme was for community works alone.
He advised the panchayats seeking upgradation of schools to first comply with certain norms like provision of at least 20 rooms, six-acre land, water supply and boundary wall.
