Agartala, July 11 -- Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) has an outstanding amount of Rs 450 crore in unpaid power bills from consumers.

Around 49 percent of consumers do not pay their bills, said Biswajit Basu, Managing Director of the state-owned power distribution company.

Briefing media persons at the TSECL headquarters, Basu said, "We have a consumer base of around 10 lakh people across the state. Out of them, 49 percent pay their bills regularly, while the rest do not."

When asked how long the situation had persisted, he replied, "I joined last year. At that time, only 39 percent of consumers were paying their bills. The situation has improved slightly, now 49 percent pay regularly."

Basu said that unpaid bills...