Manmohan, Paswan among VIP power bill defaulters

Former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Devegowda, Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Najma Heptulla are among over 300 MPs who figure in an NDMC list of electricity and water bill defaulters.

The list includes Congress president Sonia Gandhi who owes the council a small sum of Rs 194.

The New Delhi Municipal Council has mentioned sums as low as Rs 25 in their list of dues. But there are defaulters whose arrears have piled up to several lakh over the years.

The list was last updated in January. It records the dues till the December 2014 billing cycle.

Besides the two lists of 321 MPs from Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha who have not cleared their bills, the council has released lists of former Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs with outstanding electricity and water dues.

A fifth list features 74 deceased MPs who have dues pending against them.
Many MPs, like Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani, who feature in the January list have since paid up, said a senior NDMC list.

But in most cases the dues remain.

While Manmohan Singh owes Rs 22,234.08, Devgowda has over Rs 1.4 lakh pending against him. Telangana Chief MInister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s dues add up to  Rs 1.27 lakh.

Lok Sabha MP Jainarain Prasad Nishad’s dues amount to over Rs 18.4 lakh across the eight addresses he has occupied across the NDMC area.

Lok Sabha MPs Tapas Pal and Satabdi Ray have amounts as low as Rs 60 and Rs 25 pending, according to the NDMC list. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor owes Rs 7,374 and L K Advani of Rs 3,311.

A senior NDMC official said several notices have been sent for the clearance of dues. With the list available in the public domain, it would also put pressure on MPs whose dues amount to lakhs.

However, the council is not considering disconnecting the water or electricity lines of the MPs.

Among the 859 ex-Lok Sabha MPs, Jagdish Tytler’s dues amount to a whopping Rs 16.97 lakh. Of the total amount, the electricity dues amount to Rs 15.33 lakh. Prabhu Nath Singh has to still pay the council Rs 2.7 lakh and another ex-MP P P Koya has Rs 1.9 lakh pending.

Deceased MPs like Rajesh Pilot, Gopinath Munde, Aba Ghani Khan Chaudhary also have amounts pending against their addresses. Their dues range from Rs 42 lakh to Rs 1,000.