Several ministries, divisions and offices of the Bangladesh government are yet to pay pending electricity bill amounting to Tk1,664 crore to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources. This was revealed during a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Planning Ministry at the parliament on Monday.
Sources confirmed that nearly half of that amount is due from the Local Government Ministry. The rest of the amount is owed from a total of 40 ministries and divisions, including the ministries of housing and public works, textile and jute, education and home affairs.
The Bangla Tribune has learned that a major portion of the due electricity bill is owed from city corporations, municipalities and union parishads. However, these government offices provide services such as operating and maintaining street lamps on roads and steers across the country, so the ministry concerned cannot just disconnect electricity supply to these defaulters.
Under the circumstances, the parliamentary committee directed the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources to take necessary steps for collecting due electricity bill from the defaulters, committee member Shamsul Haque Chowdhury told the Bangla Tribune.
The meeting was chaired by committee president Abul kalam Azad, and was attended by Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Major (retd) Rafiqul Islam (Bir Uttam) and Md Tajul Islam among many others. State Minister MA Mannan attended the meeting as a special guest.
During the meeting, it was proposed that uninterrupted electricity supply be ensured during the 63rd Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference, which is scheduled to be held in Dhaka from November first to eight this year.
This article was first published on banglatribune.com
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