Haryana Power Minister Ranjit Singh on Tuesday said that no surcharge will be levied on electricity till the lockdown in the state.
Apart from this, payment of electricity security of four months has been deferred for one year, the Minister said.
He said that 236 teams of about 1700 members have been constituted in the Department to conduct power theft raids in industries, brick kilns, shopping malls and resorts across the state.
Ever since he had taken the charge of the Power Department, about 2600 power theft cases have been revealed after conducting raids in the field and accordingly a fine has been imposed on the defaulters which has generated the revenue of Rs 536 crore in the power sector, he said.
Singh said that the Power Department has been working in a time bound manner to shift the electricity poles and wires crossing over the roofs of schools and other buildings. The cost of around Rs 96 crore for shifting the electricity wires has been borne by the Department and this work will be completed by August.
He further said that the Electricity Department has purchased 8000 electric poles and all these poles are of high altitude. Defunct poles will be replaced soon. Similarly, the work of replacing all the old wires will also be completed by the month of August, he said.
Showing concern over transparency in electricity bills, the Power Minister said that the Department has purchased 10 lakh smart meters out of which 2.75 lakh smart meters have been installed in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Karnal and Panchkula. Soon, the Department will purchase about 20 lakh smart meters. These smart meters will ensure more transparency in electricity bills, he added.