MPs get an electric shock: Politicians named and shamed as NDMC releases list of defaulters

What they owe

The NDMC has decided to shock political VIPs out of the lethargy that afflicts them when it comes to paying power and water bills.

The civic body has prepared a list of utility bill defaulters, which also includes some prominent parliamentarians, and made it available on a public domain.

While most of the MPs pay their bills on time, some of their colleagues owe lakhs of rupees to the civic body. Former cabinet ministers Ram Vilas Paswan, Lalu Prasad and Congress leader Jagdish Tytler top the list, which also includes parliamentarians like G.Venkatswamy, A.B.A Ghanikhan, Jai Narain Prasad Nishad. Their outstanding bills run into lakhs.

For instance, Ram Vilas Paswan and Lalu Yadav - both former railway ministers - owe a huge sum to the NDMC towards power and water bills. While Paswan owes the NDMC Rs 1,68,271, Yadav is yet to pay Rs 1,10,927 to the civic body.

Similarly, veteran Congress leader Jagdish Tytler has Rs 10,90,564 as dues towards water and power bills.

The civic body has uploaded the list of over 1,700 parliamentarians, some of whom are dead. Officials said all these MPs had not cleared power and water bills over the years.

A senior NDMC official said the list had been prepared as part of efforts to bring more transparency.

"We have uploaded the list of every consumer and there are different categories. It is for the benefit of consumers. Now, anybody can check his dues. If he finds any discrepancy, he can complain to the person concerned," said the official.

Applying pressure

Some of the leaders, who are dead, are also named in the list. They include former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao (Rs 41,205), Madhavrao Scindia (Rs 93,957), Sunil Dutt (Rs 4,681), Rajesh Pilot (Rs 7,46,510), Kalpnath Rai (Rs 17,47,991) and Rajesh Khanna (Rs 1,87,411).

Hoping that the list would put pressure on the leaders to pay their dues, an official said: "It is not that the NDMC doesn't send notices. But it is only a formality. There is a long procedure involved in collecting the dues. We need to send notices to the speaker and secretariats."

The official also said the civic body would not be able to disconnect the electricity or water lines of the parliamentarians easily.

"In some cases, we have disconnected the connection of their servant quarters but connections to the residences of these parliamentarians have hardly been disconnected so far," said another official requesting anonymity.

NDMC areas comprise residences of high and mighty of the city. While it has bungalows of union ministers and parliamentarians, many top industrialists also stay in the area. The NDMC areas also house major installations such as Parliament House, buildings of all the ministries, Supreme Court, high court and residences of Supreme Court judges, senior bureaucrats and senior military officers.

Officials said maintenance of basic infrastructure of the NDMC areas was very important keeping in mind the profile of the persons who stay or work here.

"The move by the civic body will put pressure on the officials and it will also help in better upkeep of the facilities," an official said.

Made public

The civic body had earlier made the work performance of its senior officials public. A senior official said the whole area had been divided into 14 different circles and officers have been deployed to look after these circles.

"One officer has been given responsibility for two circles and they have been told to take regular visits of their areas to check the condition of basic amenities. Their inspection report will be loaded on the official website," the officer added.

