Ryots' power arrears amnesty scheme extended to March

The Maharashtra Cabinet today voted in favour of extending the amnesty scheme for agriculturists who are in arrears in power bills to March 31, 2005.

The existing amnesty scheme, in force till November 30, allowed a waiver of 50 per cent on the arrears owed by the 23 lakh strong consumer base of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB), provided 50 per cent of the total outstanding amount was paid immediately.

Deshmukh told mediapersons, "In view of daily load shedding in the range of 2,500 mw to 3,000 mw, the state government has also decided to go in for increased purchase of power from the central grid as well as through captive power initiatives to meet the shortfall in the state. Currently, there is a daily load shedding of upto six hours in rural areas as well as in urban areas such as Pune, Nashik and Nagpur. We are keen to bring down the load shedding to three hours."

He added that public awareness drives would be conducted by individual municipal corporations and councils throughout the state to instill values of using power responsibly among consumers.

He said that a drive against unauthorised electric connections by agriculturists, commercial units and industrial units would also be launched to curb theft.

A senior government official, to whom Business Standard subsequently spoke, however, said, "We have a total sanctioned capacity of around 2,700 mw that we may draw from the central grid. Already we are at the 2,400 mw mark and there is little scope for us to enhance power supply from the central grid to meet our energy shortfall."