Mapusa police station goes 'powerless'

Mapusa/Saligao: Mapusa police station went powerless for over four hours on Friday as the electricity department allegedly cut supply due to unpaid bills amounting to over Rs 19 lakh pending for over a year.

Supply was restored in the afternoon after police officials told the department that the amount would take some time to clear.

“Electricity bills of over Rs 19 lakh are pending, and we told the department that it is the duty of the accounts department to clear them. Since it is a huge amount it cannot be cleared immediately,” said Mapusa police inspector Kapil Nayak.

Police sources said the electricity department cut the connection at 9.30am on Friday, and power was restored at 1.45pm after authorities intervened.

The department, however, denied disconnecting power and said supply might have been disrupted due to some ‘other reasons’.

Sources said that electricity bills of the Mapusa police station amounting to Rs 19,32,000 from June 2018 to July 2019 were due to be paid.

A bill of approximately Rs 2 lakh for the months of March 2018 to May 2018 was paid by the police station to the department, said sources. However, the bill for June 2018 reflected arrears of this amount which was already paid, and correspondence over this issue was ongoing between the two parties, sources added.

Sources said that the electricity connection to Mapusa police station was temporary. As per rules, a temporary connection cannot be extended beyond a period of six months.

The electricity department had asked for a willingness letter from the Mapusa police station to make the connection permanent. However, according to sources, the willingness letter was not provided.

Chief electrical engineer Reshma Mathew told TOI that arrears to the tune of Rs 19 lakh are pending for the past one year.

The electricity department has now given 15 days to Mapusa police station to regularise everything and pay the outstanding amount. The new police building was inaugurated in August 2016 with state-of-the-art facilities.