Imphal, October 05: Close on the heels of the Chief Minister announcing that a special force may be set up to collect outstanding power tariff from the consumers, the State Govt has come up with a specific plan to construct a special police station in Imphal to house the personnel whose service would be utilised in the tax drive.

On the other hand, the Centre has started deducting Rs 12 crores every month from the account of the State for power consumption.

Speaking to The Sangai Express, a reliable source said that the deduction of Rs 12 crores every month from the State's Plan will have a negative impact in the next financial year.

It is to remedy this situation that the Chief Minister has come up with the idea of setting up a special police station to collect outstanding power tax as well as to crack down on unauthorized connection.

The decision to set up the special police station was conveyed by the Chief Minister to top level officials during a meeting a few days back, said the source adding that the DGP has been asked to do the needful for the new set up.

The personnel of the new police station will function under the Electricity Act of 2003 and they will be empowered to act against tax defaulters as well as unauthorised connections.

The special squad will be headed by a police officer not below the rank of Inspector said a police official on condition of anonymity.

The officer said that though the Government has approved the setting up of the special squad, there has been no move to create posts for the new squad.

Every month the State Government spends Rs 9 crores in buying power from agencies outside the State.

On top of this, the Centre has now started deducting Rs 12 crores every month as the State has not been able to recover the outstanding power tax.

If this trend is not reversed soon, then the State share in the next fiscal may just be about Rs 252 crores, added the source.

At the moment, the State Power Department is able to collect Rs 4 crores every month as power tax, but the actual amount to be realised is Rs 21 crores.

The outstanding power tax liable to be recovered from the public is Rs 120 crores while from the Government the amount is Rs 27 crores, said the source.

The biggest defaulter among the consumers is Imphal area which has an outstanding power tariff of Rs 65 crores.

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