The government has finally come up with a unique and much-needed respite for the electricity consumers across Jammu and Kashmir as an announcement has been made with regard to a waiver for domestic power consumers in the Union Territory in the interest accumulated in the power bills on account of non-payment of timely dues. Such a decision would help the consumers, especially the poor among them, to ensure timely payment of electricity dues every month, which would put an end to the burden they had for so long. The decision that was announced in the Administrative Council (AC) which met in Srinagar under the chairmanship of the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, would certainly decrease the number of defaulters. It is for the first time that the government has brought relief among the defaulters, but there is a need to ensure that the waiver should not impact the revenue realization of the department as it could possibly lead to further losses as well. One needs to understand that paying the electricity dues would help the department in further augmenting the power infrastructure, which is the need of the hour to ensure that round-the-clock electricity is supplied to the people, especially in winters when the power demand usually remains high. The concerned department should brace up and ensure that all those who have failed to pay the monthly dues for a long are given the waiver at earliest to ensure that the pending amount is realized from them and the immediate and necessary steps are taken well on time to supply 24*7 electricity by augmenting the infrastructure here.
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