Nitin Raut seeks CM’s intervention for recovery of ₹9,138 cr from two departments
Two departments - rural development and urban development - owe MSEDCL ₹ 9,138 crore against the electricity used for the water supply scheme and streetlights
Mumbai: Amid the rising debt on the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Corporation Limited (MSEDCL), state energy minister Nitin Raut has sought chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s intervention for the recovery of dues from government departments.
Two departments - rural development and urban development - owe MSEDCL ₹ 9,138 crore against the electricity used for the water supply scheme and streetlights. The minister has also said power connection for the scheme will be disconnected if the bills are not paid.
Raut, in his letter to the CM, highlighted the poor financial health of the company. He said in the event of MSEDCL disconnecting the electricity connection, not only will the government have to face the ire of the people, even his party Congress will be seen in a bad light.
“The outstanding dues for the water supply scheme is ₹ 2,607 crore while it is ₹ 6,316 crore for the streetlights. Despite repeated meetings with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and officials from the two departments, the dues are mounting every month. Against the current month bills of ₹ 380 crore and ₹ 857 crore towards water supply and streetlights respectively, the departments have paid just ₹ 7 and ₹ 4 crore,” the letter said, adding bills were also scrutinised following complaints of inflated dues.
MSEDCL supplies electricity to 28 million residential, agricultural, commercial and industrial consumers in the state. The pandemic, natural calamities, shortage of coal, and unpaid bills have led to a manifold rise in the dues in the last two years. The dues from customers amount to more than ₹ 50,000 crore, including ₹ 41, 175 crore from the agricultural pumps.
“The debts have mounted on MSEDCL to ₹45,591 crore while it owes ₹13,486 crore to the power generation companies. Besides, the outstanding from the state government for the subsidies it offers to industries, including powerloom, textiles and units in D category areas, is ₹7,978 crore. Non-payment of power purchase bills has been leading to interest on the company,” Raut said.
The minister has requested the CM to direct the two departments to clear their dues immediately.
An official from the rural development department said the bills have not been paid on account of the shortfall in the budgetary allocation amid the economic crisis caused by Covid-19.
“The outstanding of the electricity bills is an internal adjustment. The budgetary allocations are curtailed by 20% to 30%. In such a scenario, payments are prioritised and the dues to other departments are put on hold,” he said.