PHE to disconnect water connections of defaulting Govt depts, MLA hostels; March 2019 last deadline

JUNAID SIDIQ

SRINAGAR: After asking its employees to clear all their pending water bills before getting salary, the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department is now mulling to disconnect water connections of government departments including Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) hostels if they fail to clear their water charges by March 2019.

According to official figures, 33 government departments owe PHE department Rs 2.94 crore water bill till March 2018.

Topping the defaulters, the MLA hostels owed Rs 61.24 lakh to the PHE department on account of water charges.

The government departments that owe PHE money include Floriculture department whose total outstanding is Rs 22.84 lakh. The Police department owes PHE department Rs 13.94 lakh. Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) owe PHE Rs 11.72 lakh while Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) Rs 2.74 lakh to the PHE.

Similarly, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) owes Rs 3.90 lakh to PHE, while the Wakf Board and AG’s Office owes Rs 7.26 lakh and Rs 6.79 lakh respectively to PHE.

In healthcare, SMHS Hospital owes PHE department Rs 37 lakh. LD Hospital owes Rs 30 lakh while GB Pant Hospital owes Rs 11.54 lakh till March 2018.

The Government Medical College (GMC) and Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial (JLNM) Hospital, owe Rs 11 lakh each to the PHE department while the Bone and Joint Hospital owes Rs 1.88 lakh.

In the Education department, SP College owes Rs 12.72 lakh, KGP Rs 4.35 lakh, and Women’s College Rs 4.90 lakh to the PHE.

Sources said that PHE is planning to send a notice to all the government departments to clear their pending bill by March 2019 that marks the end of financial year, “otherwise their water connections would be disconnected.”

PHE Chief Engineer Abdul Wahid said despite several attempts the department has not received the pending amount from the government departments.

“We have set the last deadline by March. If they failed to pay, then we will disconnect their connections,” Wahid said.

To set an example for another departments, in December last year, PHE department had asked its employees to clear all their pending water bills before getting month’s salary into their accounts.
In case any employee fails to do so, their salary would be placed at hold.