Pune : Outstanding electricity bills of government offices reach upto Rs 23 crores; MSEDCL asks to pay bills
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Due to the increasing arrears of electricity bills, the financial condition of the MSEDCL is becoming tough as several government offices have not paid the outstandingamount.
In this, the arrears of electricity bills of 7365 different offices, mainly of the Police Department and Zilla Parishad in Western Maharashtra, have gone up to Rs 21 crore 40 lakhs. Along with this, the arrears of electricity bills of 1392 offices of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporations have increased to Rs 1 crore 73 lakh 50 thousand.
As per further information from MSEDCL, Pune Regional Director of Mahavitaran Ankush Nale has sent a letter to the Commissioner of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporations, the Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Parishad of West Maharashtra, the Police Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police requesting them to take immediate action regarding the payment of the outstanding amount of electricity bills. Along with this letter, the list of relevant outstanding offices is also attached.
Due to non-payment of monthly electricity bills by domestic, commercial and industrial consumers in Western Maharashtra, arrears are increasing for the past few months. At present, 17 lakh 85 thousand electricity consumers in the domestic, commercial and industrial categories in Western Maharashtra have arrears of Rs 332 crore 79 lakh.
To recover these arrears, Mahavitaran has started a campaign to cut power supply. Along with this, a list of government offices with the most arrears of electricity bills has also been prepared. Mahavitaran is following up with the concerned offices to pay the dues. It is being clarified that if the due amount is not paid, the power supply will be interrupted.
In Pune district, 4 thousand 348 government offices have arrears of Rs 8 crore 57 lakh. Out of this, 63 lakh is owed to 552 offices of Pune Municipal Corporation, 1 crore 11 lakh to 840 offices of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, 5 crore 58 lakh to 1913 offices of Pune District Council and 1 crore 25 lakh to 1043 offices of Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad City and Pune Rural Police Department.
In Satara district, electricity bills of 1393 government offices are outstanding to the tune of Rs 2 crore 11 lakh. This includes arrears of Rs 1 crore 97 lakh for 1285 offices of Satara Zilla Parishad and Rs 13 lakh for 108 offices of District Police Department. Also, 4 crore 76 lakh of 1621 offices of Solapur Zilla Parishad and 17 lakh of 85 offices of District Police Department have outstanding electricity bills of Rs 4 crore 93 lakh with a total of 1706 offices in Solapur district.
892 offices of Sangli Zilla Parishad have 2 crore 9 lakhs and 219 offices of Police Department have 1.8 lakh, a total of 1111 offices have arrears of electricity bills of Rs 2 crore 27 lakhs in Sangli district. While 146 offices of Kolhapur Zilla Parishad have 5 crore 19 lakhs and 53 offices of District Police Department have 6 lakhs, a total of 199 offices have outstanding electricity bills of Rs 5 crore 26 lakhs in Kolhapur district.
Government offices are charged electricity tariff from Mahavitaran under public service category. These electricity rates are the same as domestic rates or even lower depending on the slab. In this, for education and medical services, the electricity tariff is Rs 4 13 paise per unit for electricity connection up to 20 KW, Rs 5 94 paise for electricity connection above 20 KW and Rs 7 45 paise per unit for electricity connection above 50 KW. Whereas, for other government offices up to 20 KW electricity tariff is being charged at Rs 5 94 paise per unit and above that at the rate of Rs 9 40 paise per unit.
Funds are provided in the annual budget of all government offices for payment of electricity bills and accordingly funds are available from the concerned department. However, in Western Maharashtra, due to non-payment of electricity bills by various offices of Zilla Parishad, Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and Police Department, the arrears are increasing.
