Krishnagar (Nadia), Jan. 31: The salaries of employees of Kalyani’s Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hospital, including 42 doctors, were withheld yesterday by sub-divisional officer Swapan Paul for non-payment of residential electricity dues.

The 550-odd hospital staff generally get their salaries from the district treasury after necessary clearance from the SDO, Kalyani.

Paul said today that the hospital employees had not paid their residential electricity bills for the past few months amounting to nearly Rs 1 crore.

He added that the employees had been paying a token amount to the hospital for electricity consumption, disregarding the amount recorded in the meters at their quarters.

Hospital superintendent Nirupam Biswas said the employees used to pay the token money earlier when there was no system of meter-reading at their quarters.

“A doctor used to pay Rs 100 per month and the amount paid by a Group C employee was Rs 50. But for the last few months, this method of payment was done away with following installation of permanent meters at their residences,” Biswas said.

Paul said the employees continued to follow the old method of payment even after the installation of meters, which indicated a higher rate of electricity consumption.

“As the arrears of unpaid electricity bills went up to a staggering amount of nearly Rs 1 crore, the public health engineering department, which pays the electricity bills of hospitals to the SEB, took a strong exception to the matter and urged me to take necessary action. It was only then that I decided to withhold payment of salaries to the hospital staff,” Paul said.