'Will give free power if we have money'

Energy minister Nitin Raut on Friday said he hasnt backtracked on the promise of giving 100 units of power free per connection but the state companys depleted coffers are not allowing the government to take an immediate decisionHe said the state company would be able to spend Rs 6000 crore annually for free power if it recovered Rs 69000 crore in bill arrears of which Rs 40000 crore dues are from farmers He put the onus of accumulated bill arrears on the previous BJPled governmentRaut said a committee appointed to prepare a free power proposal couldnt meet amid the pandemic but it has been asked to submit the report as early as possible They say I havent kept my word but I say I will work on fulfilling the promise in the future There should be no problem if we recover the dues that have increased since 2014 the year BJP took over he said adding that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has ordered an enquiry into the accumulation of arrears and drop in profitability of the three stateowned power companies the distribution utility in particular that work under the parent company Maharashtra State Electricity Board MSEBProve bills are inflatedRaut blamed the BJP for politicising the issue and challenged opposition leaders to prove that bills are inflated Out of 1166 lakh consumer complaints only 37000 are left to be resolved BJP leaders should bring me the bills for correction if any If consumers have been correctly charged the BJP leaders should pay the bills I trust my state company Raut said at a media conference adding that 69 per cent consumers of the state company Mahavitaran had paid the postlockdown bills He said even Bollywood celebrities and corporate leaders are happy with the resolution of their complaintsThe BJP should protest against the Centre because it did not give us a grant of Rs 10000 crore Instead it offered us a loan at 10 per cent interest The Centre is a loan shark and it should also release a GST share of R28000 crore If we get all dues from the Centre then like farmers we will be able to offer sops to consumers stated Raut calling for an amnesty scheme for consumers of agricultural pumps as a way of waiving off bills worth Rs 20000 croreHogwash says FadnavisOpposition leader Devendra Fadnavis called the amnesty hogwash Farmers dont have resources to pay bills and arrears that in some cases amount to over R50000 How many farmers have R25000 in cash to pay if he were to avail the amnesty which offers 100 per cent or 50 per cent credit he askedResponding to the accumulation of arrears claim he demanded documents of power companies from 1999 to 2019 Our government didnt behave like a saavkar money lender in recovering the dues from distressed farmers In fact the stateowned companies were made more efficient the former chief minister said On Friday BJP Mahila Morcha workers protested outside state power companys Bandra headquarters Prakashgad Mumbai BJP president Mangal Prabhat Lodha and partys 2021 BMC poll incharge MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar also participatedKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news