CM reviews functioning of APDCL, AEGCL and APGCL
HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, June 6: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday stressed on the need to make three power companies of the state profit making ventures within the next five years similar to the power companies in Gujarat.
Gujarat’s breathtaking rise from a power deficit to a surplus state within a decade after 2004 on the back of strong implementation of reform measures, is inspirational, asserted Sarma.
Reviewing the functioning of the power department and its three companies APDCL, AEGCL and APGCL at a meeting here, the chief minister directed the department to create a proper database with the names and phone numbers of 63 lakh consumers to set up an improved billing system to cut down losses.
Sarma also asked the department to adopt technological solutions in metering, billing, collection etc like Gujarat to turn the companies into profit making entities.
Directing the department to prepare a plan for turning the companies into profit making entities, the chief minister instructed them to immediately set up 500 distribution transformers in the profit making centres of APDCL. He also asked for efficient management of all other revenue earning sources of APDCL. Instruction was given to put up power meters in a visible place in all commercial establishments in the next 15 days so that everyone can see them.
The chief minister directed to ensure profit earning from all the transformers set up in commercial institutions.
He also directed the finance department to issue notifications regarding turning the loans taken by three companies from the state government till March 31, 2021 into partnership shares and payment of dividends against those shares to the government.
The instruction was also issued regarding streamlining the billing and revenue collection of APDCL in the grassroots while identifying the institutions with unpaid power bills so that revenue earning can be boosted. He also asked the department to take necessary steps to recover unpaid bills of government offices at the earliest while directing for making a report with the names, profession etc. of all those who have not paid their power bills.
He also instructed them to recover the unpaid power bills of government officials directly from their salaries through DDOs. He also said that from now onwards the transfer and posting of APDCL officials must be done based on their performances.
The chief minister instructed APDCL to issue notification to authorise all police stations to register power theft cases, as only a few police stations in the state currently possess authority for the same.
State power minister Bimal Bora, chairman of all 3 power companies VK. Pipersenia, principal secretary to CM Samir Kumar Sinha and other senior officers were present in the meeting.