Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut on Friday demanded a grant of ₹10,000 crores from the central government for the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited also known as MahaVitaran which is a public sector undertaking controlled by the state government.
Raut informed that the state-owned MahaVitaran has suffered losses due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Raut also said that the centre should release grants for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Uttan (PM-KUSUM) Yojana so that the Maharashtra government can provide nearly one lakh pumps per year to farmers over the next five years.
Raut was speaking in a video conference held by the Union Ministry of Power which was attended by chief ministers and energy ministers. During the online meeting, Union Power Minister RK Singh lauded the Maharashtra government for its 100 per cent implementation of the PM-KUSUM scheme and asked the other states to follow.
Raut, however, opposes the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and said that it violates the constitutional mandate and subverts the federal structure of India. He asked the centre to take all states into confidence in relation to the proposed amendment bill.
The Maharashtra minister further said that the central government was trying to privatise the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) amid the lockdown. Through this amendment, the Union government was trying to provide a “backdoor entry” to private investors into the power sector by amending the Electricity Act, he added.
During the video conference meet, Raut raised the issue of Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) providing poor quality coal which was adversely affecting the power generation.
Earlier, the energy minister announced that all Mahavitaran’s consumers can pay their electricity bill for June in three instalments. This came amid the outrage over hiked electricity bills. Raut announced that the MahaVitaran customers who pay their June bill on time and in one go will be eligible for a rebate of two per cent.
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