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The Uddhav Thackeray authorities in Maharashtra has shelved its plan to soak up the power payments of home customers for three months throughout the lockdown.
Citing mounting arrears, Energy Minister Nitin Raut on Tuesday introduced that the federal government will be unable to supply any relaxations in power payments for the lockdown months of April, May and June. Consumers must pay the complete quantity as per the readings within the payments, he advised mediapersons.
In the wake of complaints of extreme power payments being obtained by individuals, together with by outstanding industrialists and movie celebrities, Raut’s division had in August proposed to bear the majority of “additional” burden for the April-June interval of the lockdown.
As per the proposal, all eligible households have been liable to pay solely for the items consumed within the corresponding months in 2019. For circumstances the place the billed items for April, May and June this 12 months exceed the corresponding utilization by 100 items or much less, the federal government had proposed to bear the whole value of the excess consumption. It had additionally proposed to soak up 50 per cent and 25 per cent of the additional burden for circumstances the place the excess billed items vary between 101-300 items and 301-500 items, respectively.
But with the proposal – meant to profit 1.14 crore households or 90 per cent of all residential customers in Maharashtra – anticipated to value the state exchequer Rs 1,071 crore, the finance division had raised a number of queries, stalling its additional progress. The proposal in August was formulated following a gathering between Finance Minister Ajit Pawar and Raut.
Glossing over the delay in deciding on the proposal, Raut on Tuesday blamed mounting invoice arrears and rising debt of the power distribution firm for shelving of the plan.
“Mahaviran (state’s power discom) is also a consumer. It buys electricity from several power generation companies. Currently, Mahavitran is facing a deficit of Rs 69,000 crore, we cannot avail of further debt at this stage,” he stated.
An alternate plan to waive the payments of the complete three months for home customers with consumption under 300 items additionally couldn’t progress additional.
Raut, a Congress minister, additionally blamed the Centre for not serving to out. “We tried hard to provide benefits to the consumers but unfortunately the Centre did not help us,” he stated.
On November 13, Raut had earlier agreed in precept to a bonus of workers of state-run power firms following protests from unions.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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