Dindigul school education department owes Rs 39 lakh to Tangedco

DINDIGUL: The school education department in Dindigul has not paid electricity bills to the tune of Rs 39 lakh to Tangedco for the past two years, the former stated in a reply to a query filed by TNIE under the RTI Act. According to the RTI reply, the School education department (Secondary Education) of Dindigul has an outstanding bill of Rs 13.59 lakh, the Elementary Education Department (Section 1) has an outstanding bill of Rs 22.95 lakh, and the Elementary Education Department (Section 2) has an outstanding bill of Rs 3.16 lakh. Explaining the cause of delay, chief education officer (Dindigul), P Usha told TNIE, "In the secondary education department, usage of power is increasing everyday due to the presence of hitech labs, and smart classrooms. More importantly, senior secondary schools have more students, as a result, usage of water pumps is more." Usha added that the increased power consumption during repair and renovation works exceeds the amount allotted, which leads to such a situation. However, we have paid most of the bills, and the pending is around Rs 10 lakh. "In the elementary education department, we pay for the primary schools in panchayats. For elementary schools located in Town Panchayats and municipalities, respective civic bodies will be paying the bills. I have asked for the details of pending bills from each school in each town, panchayats, and municipalities. So that we can find out which facility has to pay their bills and rectify it." An official from Tangedco (Dindigul) said, "Since education is a part of essential service under the state government, we haven't disconnected any services in any elementary or higher secondary schools so far. We have issued timely intimations and letters to the school education department. Sometimes, they clear the payments in installments; other times, there are arrears. However, the electricity bill is increasing every year due to a rise in consumption. The current arrears are around Rs 39.65 lakh as on March 31."