Lucknow, Feb. 6 -- Energy minister AK Sharma on Wednesday took immediate action after learning about an exorbitant electricity bill issued to a consumer in Basti district.

He directed the managing director of Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd (PuVVNL) to take strict action, leading to the suspension of executive assistant Deepak Kumar Tiwari.

According to a government spokesman the incident occurred in Ram Sukrauli Chaudhary village under the jurisdiction of the Hariaiya power substation. Consumer Molhu received a bill of Rs.70.32 crore for January, whereas his actual due amount was only Rs.65,229.

"The error stemmed from an incorrect assessment of units (12,174,210 kWh) by Tiwari, which was approved by the subdivision officer. Follow...