Punjab CM waives off charges for shifting of electrical lines

On the directives of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has exempted domestic and commercial consumers from the material and storage cost, as well as supervision charges, for shifting of 11 KV HT/LT Lines passing over/along their buildings and not having sufficient electrical clearance.

The Chief Minister ordered the PSPCL to issue necessary guidelines in this regard to mitigate the hardships faced by consumers. The move would go a long way in ensuring the safety and security of residents from high tension wires.

The Chief Minister also appealed to the residents to come forward to make optimum use of the benefits offered by the Powercom.

A spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said that the consumers had been bearing 4% of the cost of additional material on account of incidental expenditure, which has now been waived off. The storage charges at 1.5 per cent on the cost of additional material levied earlier has also been waived off. The transportation and labour charges would also be exempted now in case the same is arranged by the consumer.

The contingencies charges at 1 per cent on the cost of additional material have also been done away with, in a major relief to the consumers. Also, supervision charges which were earlier charged at 15 per cent on labour charges have been done away with. However, supervision of construction work would be undertaken by PSPCL.

In addition to this, the Audit and Accounts and T and P charges, which were both earlier being levied at 1.5 per cent on the total cost of estimate, have also been totally abolished.

Referring to additional benefits offered by the Powercom, the spokesman further said the charges would only be recovered from the applicant for the size of the original conductor/cable, etc. in case, there is an augmentation of conductor/cable, etc. Likewise, in case the augmentation of transformer is required, the cost of the same shall be borne by the PSPCL.

System improvement work, if any would also be carried out by PSPCL on its own if required. Apart from these, the payment of fees of Chief Electrical Inspector, if any, for inspection of the line, transformer, etc. would also be borne by PSPCL.

( With inputs from ANI )