Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (DESA) Tuesday launched a crackdown to realise an outstanding amount of Tk 200 million from top 10 power bill defaulting industries. As a part of the drive, DESA disconnected the power lines of Spark T-Shirts Ltd, which alone has kept power bills worth Tk 6.10 million unpaid. "We will not entertain any request from the government high officials or any other influential quarter to re-connect the lines of the defaulters", DESA Chairman Touhidul Islam said while talking to the FE Tuesday. The owner of the company - who is also a leader of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), is in the third position of DESA's major power defaulters' list with an arrear of TK 10.7 million. His other three companies - Dhaka Vegetables Oil Limited owe Tk 4.38 million, AB Vegetable Tk 2.64 million and Desma Shoes Tk 4.01 million respectively to DESA in outstanding electricity bills. Although in a recent conversation, the DESA chairman said the drive against the power bill-dodgers would start from the first of April, the authority has started the crackdown earlier mainly to boost its ailing income base. Authority concerned said DESA warned its biggest defaulters several times, but failed to receive any positive response from them in clearing their outstanding power bills. As a part of massive drive to hunt down the defaulters in the DESA area, it will disconnect all the power lines gradually, the DESA boss said.
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