Imphal, October 22: The amount of the tax arrear to be paid by electricity consumers, both private individuals and Government Departments to the State Electricity Department is said to be ever on the rise, according to a reliable source from the Department.

The amount of arrear to be paid by private consumers till March end this year was Rs 82.09 crores and that of Government Departments was Rs 20.32 crores.

However, by September end, the due amount has risen to Rs 94.8531 crores and Rs 24.6196 crores for private consumers and Govt Depts respectively, the source disclosed.

From first April to September end this year, the Power Department could only collect a total revenue of Rs 8,48,16,206 including Rs 4,13,22,223 as arrear and Rs 4,34,93,983 as current bill (although the current bill amount prepared during the same period was Rs 25,54,71,337), the source further disclosed.

The said collected amount also include Rs 25 crores collected from different sources.

In the current financial year 2004-05, the target of revenue collection for Power Department being set by the State Finance Department is Rs 60 crores from non-Tax sources like arrear, current bill, etc and Rs 1.12 crores from revenue sources like energy tax charges by Loktak Project, the source informed.

Over and above this, the Finance Department expects the Power Department to collect Rs 5000 as miscellaneous collection from selling of forms to the contractors, the source said.

To achieve the target set by the Finance Department on non-tax revenue collection, Power Department has started taking up steps to recover Rs 72.86 crores from various non tax revenue sources.

However, even though the possibility of achieving the target of set by the Finance Department on tax revenue collection is very remote, the Power Department, nevertheless, is making all out efforts to collect at least Rs 77.91 lakhs, the source added.

Till March end, the Power Department set a target of collecting Rs 6.55 crores arrear from private individual consumers besides another Rs 10 crores from current bills, the source informed.

The Power Department is also trying to collect an arrear amount of Rs 9.43 crores various Government Departments, the source further said, adding that the Department is yet to collect Rs 72.86 crores from other agencies as usage charges of equipments of the department.

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