Lesa snaps supply to defaulter govt buildings

LUCKNOW: Government premises and buildings in Lucknow are getting their electricity connection snapped because of dues pending against them. From Monday through Wednesday, supply to the defaulters was snapped for a couple of hours one by one to serve as a warning to them.
Till Wednesday, the Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration (Lesa) had disconnected supply to the Mahanagar office of LDA and Aliganj office of LMC for dues more than Rs 1 lakh.KD Singh Babu Stadium lost power for want of dues worth Rs 67 lakh, while the administrative building of KGMU was stripped of supply as dues worth more than Rs 3 crore had not been paid. Supply to the BSNL office in Kapoorthala and the hostel of the social welfare department was also snapped.
“We restored supply after we got assurances that dues would be paid by the end of this month,” said Lesa chief engineer SK Verma.
Lesa has issued notices to government departments to pay arrears. Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) owes more than Rs 85 lakh in dues against electricity consumption at Ramabai Ambedkar rally Sthal, BR Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal, Manyavar Kanshiram Parivartan Prabandhan Sansthan and LDA Pradhikaran Bhawan in Gomtinagar.
The estate, home and public works departments, Lucknow Municipal Corportion and Lucknow Development Authority collectively owe more than Rs 33 crore to Lesa.
The list of top defaulters compiled by Lesa includes government buildings, guest houses, police stations and BSP memorials and Mantri Awas. Defaulters against ‘government-type connection’ have been identified in Hussainganj, Raj Bhawan, Mahanagar, Gomtinagar circles and in outskirts like Nadarganj.
Dues against Rajya Sampatti Adhikari (estate officer) are to the tune of Rs 6.8 crore. PWD owes the maximum of Rs 19 crore (approx). The home department owes more than Rs 7 crore.
Against 26 connections in Mantri Awas, Vibhuti Khand, Rs 24 lakh is due for payment. LMC owes more than Rs 16 lakh.