AGARTALA, Sept 20 (TIWN): The various departments of the Tripura government owe a staggering Rs 47.36 crore to the Tripura State Electricity Corporation (TSECL)- these power bills are pending till July 15, 2015.The power bills of around 41 government departments are unpaid for the past two years” said an official of TSECL requesting anonymity told TIWN. According to a status report on power bills prepared , the DWS j Department tops the list with around 15.27crore closely followed by the Irrigation (Panchayat Department) with `7.72 crore.The Home Department owes around 6 crores.The TSECL official, however, clarified that despite the stunning figures of pending bills, power connection to the departments will not be cut as most of their services come under the emergency category. Government departments with multiple connections usually don’t pay bills on a regular basis because of budgetary constraints. Most of them pay only when they are granted funds by the State government. The TSECL officials hope to get the bills cleared after the budget allocations of 2016.From private consumers an amount of Rs 52.27 crore and from central government department Rs 4.48 are pending. At various undertaking government departments Rs 5.02 crore is pending. One might think, hundreds of crores of unrealised bills may burden the company but officials think otherwise. “These bills don’t affect us much because revenue keeps pouring in from private and industrial connections,” explained the officials.

However, he admitted that the company could expand its services if the bills were paid on time.Regular administration, particularly at the company’s corporate office, has, meanwhile, slowed down due to staff crunch.

Chief Minister Manik Sarkar's long boasting of load-shedding free state still remained a myth as frequent load-sheddings continue to make life miserable.