300 lawmakers haven’t paid water, power dues

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Devegowda, Union ministers Smriti Irani, Najma Heptullah and Ram Vilas Paswan are among 300 members of parliament (MP) who are on the utility bill defaulters list of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), revealed a list made public by the council.

Others who figure in the list of electricity and water bill defaulters are former Union minister Jainarain Prasad Nishad, L K Advani, Digvijay Singh and Jagdish Tytler.

In the list of dues pending upto December 2014 billing cycle, 166 MPs from Lok Sabha and 151 MPs of Rajya Sabha have figured. Nishad, Devegowda and Telangana CM K Chandrashekhara Rao top the list.

"NDMC has written to CPWD and housing committees to clear the dues of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs. The utility bills of any person holding aconstitutional post is paid by CPWD while the electricity and water bills for MPs’ residences are deducted from their salaries," a NDMC official said.

"We had sent notices earlier too reminding of the dues," he added.

The civic body has also released a separate list of 859 former Lok Sabha MPs yet to clear their dues. Topping that list is Congress leader Tytler with dues of Rs 16.97 lakh pending.