Electricity defaulters: As deadline lapses, defaulters risk exposure

Names of defaulters will be made public by NAB.

ISLAMABAD:

As the deadline for paying outstanding electricity bills expired on Thursday, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will start releasing the names of defaulters to the media, said a NAB spokesperson.

“Defaulters can avoid embarrassment by paying their bills before April 5 or their identities will be made public,” the anti-graft body had said in a statement on Wednesday.

Assisted by Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), NAB has established special cells at all power Distribution Companies (DISCOs) who would monitor the process of payment of dues and would update the names that fail to do so.

The names of defaulters would be sent to NAB headquarters in Islamabad from where they would be made public. Later, the NAB would come into action and start arresting the defaulters who fail to pay the outstanding dues by April 19 this year.

NAB had initiated proceedings on the offence of default in payment of government dues under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2013.