Various government departments and local bodies across the seven districts of Kalyana Karnataka region together owe ₹1,715.81 crore to Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company (GESCOM) towards tariff subsidy and electricity consumption charges.
According to data provided by GESCOM, the maximum outstanding due of ₹1,556.69 crore is pending from Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department, which is 90.72% of the total pending amount of ₹1,715.81 crore, as on March 31, 2023.
The total dues from RDPR Department was ₹1,133.87 crore during April 2022 and in 2022-23, dues for electricity consumption further increased to ₹1,640.04 crore, of which the department has cleared only ₹83.35 crore.
An amount of ₹110.48 crore is pending from Urban Development Department, followed by ₹23.12 crore from Minor Irrigation Department, ₹17.65 crore from multi village scheme under the Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation Department and ₹1.78 crore from the Major Irrigation Department.
As far as State government and Central government offices are concerned, their pending electricity dues to GESCOM are ₹5.57 crore and ₹38 lakh, respectively. The Commerce and Industries Department has to clear pending dues of ₹15 lakh.
District-wise break-up
The district-wise break-up of dues in Kalyana Karnataka region is as follows. Bidar district has to pay the highest dues of ₹402.16 crore and Koppal district stands last with ₹62.99 crore. The others are, Vijayanagara ₹347.95 crore, Kalaburagi ₹322.73 crore, Raichur ₹270.22 crore and Yadgir ₹68.89 crore.
President of the Hyderabad Karnataka Environment Awareness and Protection Organisation Deepak Gala has accused the State government of failing to pay tariff subsidy to GESCOM on time and clear power consumption charges of various departments for years. Ultimately, he said, the interest burden on these loans is being recovered from commercial and domestic consumers by increasing power tariff annually.
