At least 16 government and autonomous bodies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, including Wapda, have been declared defaulters and have to pay total unpaid bills of Rs113.33 million to the Electricity Department of Mirpur Division.

They have been warned of disconnection of power supply if they fail to clear the dues in the next one week.Mirpur Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Guftar Hussain, who also enjoys powers of collector of the district under the Revenue Act, sent notices to the defaulters on Wednesday, directing them to clear all unpaid electricity bills within a week.

“All concerned government departments/autonomous bodies are directed to immediately ensure payment of arrears within the stipulated time and inform the superintending engineer electricity Mirpur Division within one week. Otherwise, the Electricity Department will be directed to disconnect power supply of the defaulters,” the notice said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the deputy commissioner said the drive to recover the outstanding amount from power consumers in the division had been undertaken in the light of a recent high-level meeting, chaired by the AJK government’s electricity secretary.

The departments declared defaulters in the Mirpur Division included Mangla Dam Affairs (unpaid bills of Rs12.54 million), Auqaf and Zakat (Rs8.73 million), District Accounts Office (Rs2.04 million), District Council (Rs0.45 million), Education/Mirpur University of Science and Technology (Rs5.87 million), Income Tax (Rs2.03 million),

Law Chamber (Rs2.06 million), Mirpur Development Authority and Kotli Development Authority (Rs24.06 million), Municipal Corporation (Rs5.94 million), Mirpur Officers Club (Rs2.14 million), Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (Rs6.98 million), Post Office (Rs0.14 million), Press Club (Rs0.38 million), Special Communication Organization (Rs3.91 million), Silk Railing Factory of Sericulture Department (Rs3.12 million), Soldier Board (Rs0.012 million) and Wapda (Rs32.86 million).