Puducherry L-G Kiran Bedi says 'name and shame' strategy for power bill defaulters had salutary effect within hours

Puducherry: Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi Wednesday said her ’name and shame’ strategy to get power bill defaulters to pay has had a salutary effect, with many hastening to clear dues and one industrial house itself settling an amount of Rs two crore. Bedi, in a WhatsApp message to reporters, said people had started clearing the arrears within hours of naming and shaming of power bill defaulters. “Within minutes of defaulters’ names being posted on Tuesday on the website, a particular industrial house cleared a bill of over Rs two crore.” [caption id=“attachment_4449339” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi. PTI[/caption] She said the strategy would continue and urged defaulters to pay up arrears on their own to avoid disconnections or other recovery procedures. Noting that Puducherry has not been doing enough to recover legitimate funds, which could have been used for infrastructure development, she said the Union Territory should recover arrears from revenue-generating services like power, property taxes, professional service and municipal services. “The departments of Puducherry government need better internal human potential management and technology-driven systems to improve efficiency in collection and recovery.” Bedi said officials have told her that they had been facing interference whenever they disconnected supply for default of power bill arrears. The officials also told her that police also did not intervene or protect them, Bedi said. The net result of this was that the UT kept buying power to supply it free of cost, even to those who could afford to purchase power, she said. “As a Lt Governor guiding the departments to enforce the laws without fear or favour is a duty and responsibility. Or else being here has no meaning`, she said and urged the people to voluntarily clear arrears. All agencies were now gearing up to name and shame the defaulters’ as they needed resources, she said, adding that some departments had already gone bankrupt. The strategy of naming and shaming the defaulters by the Electricity department has had a salutary effect, she said.