Rs 6,000-cr arrears shock gets Bescom acting

The accumulation of a whopping Rs 6,000 crore of arrears has made Bescom crack the whip on defaulters and serve notices to a slew of agencies over the last one week.

According to senior Bescom officials, government agencies are the major defaulters and collectively owe arrears to the tune of Rs 4,800 crore.

“The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) department is the major defaulter with pending dues running up to Rs 3,500 crore. That apart, the civic agencies BBMP and BWSSB collectively owe at least Rs 1,000 crore,” a senior official from Bescom’s revenue department said.

While a few government-run schools and colleges have also defaulted on paying up the electricity charges. However, officials discover that it has been easier to collect the pending amount.