PDB has Tk142cr power bills in dues 

The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) finds itself in a spot of bother as due electricity bills from both government and private organisations has reached a staggering Tk141 crore till last June.

PDB officials say that adding the due bills up to November will take the due bill amount over Tk150 crore.  

Rezaul Karim, chief engineer of PDB Chattogram Zone, said that PDB regularly issues notices and holds meetings to recover the dues.

He added that most of the companies usually clear the dues by the end of December.

PDB's list of due bills shows that the interest on due bills is more than the amount of the original electricity bills.

Of the total outstanding amount, the City Corporation has the highest due of Tk59 crore until June, followed by the disaster management and relief ministry with Tk34 crore and Ministry of Religious Affairs with Tk12.60 crore.

Among other major organisations, the agriculture ministry owes Tk7.78 crore, the home ministry – Tk6 crore, Medical Education And Family Welfare Division – Tk1.74 crore, housing and public works ministry Tk1.72 crore, public administration ministry Tk84 lakh, railways ministry – Tk56 lakh, water resource ministry Tk49 lakh, defence ministry – Tk46 lakh, law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry – Tk43 lakh, education ministry – Tk43 lakh, post and telecommunication ministry – Tk42 lakh, power, energy and mineral resources ministry – Tk38 lakh.

In addition, the road transport and bridges ministry has 37 lakh taka in due bills, chittagong hill tracts affairs ministry – Tk35 lakh, local government, rural development & co-operatives ministry – Tk27 lakh, primary and mass education ministry – Tk24 lakh, environment, forest and climate change ministry – Tk20 lakh, civil aviation and tourism ministry – Tk15 lakh, land ministry – Tk11 lakh, liberation war affairs ministry – Tk11 lakh, fisheries and livestock ministry – Tk10 lakh, science and technology ministry – Tk9 lakh, and the youth and sports ministry – Tk5lakh.

About the due electricity bills, Chattogram City Corporation Chief Executive Officer Shahidul Alam said, "The bills were not paid due to lack of funds."