Bowing to the pressure from ruling and opposition members in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Tuesday the state energy minister Nitin Raut announced that the electricity supply to farmers, was disconnected by the state-run Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MahaVitaran) due to non-payment of dues, will be restored and there will be no disconnections for the next three months.
His announcement came after the house witnessed uproar as both ruling and opposition members strongly opposed the disconnection drive undertaken by the Mahavitaran citing that it has put a lot of hardships on farmers and it was also leading to farmers committing suicides due to inability to clear dues. Raut made the announcement after his meeting with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
"MahaVitaran will restore the power connections of farmers which were disconnected due to non-payment of dues. The connections will not be cut for next three months till farmers harvest their crops,” said Raut amid welcome by ruling and opposition members by thumping benches.
Raut explained that the MahaVitaran has been passing through a major financial crisis as the arrears from various consumers have surged to Rs 64,093 crore of which agricultural consumers owe a record Rs 40,247 crore as of date. The outstanding loan is Rs 47,034 crore and liability Rs 20,268 crore as of February 28. "The MahaVitaran has given a two per cent waiver to consumers who paid dues on time. Our priority is farmers hence even after the financial strain of the company, we have taken the decision to not cut their power supply,’’ the minister said in the state assembly.
Despite the financial stress, Raut said the MahaVitaran has weathered the covid crisis and other natural calamities to supply reliable power to all consumers.
Raut said the energy department has announced "Agricultural Pump Power Connection Policy-2020" for the recovery of arrears of agricultural pump customers. Under this policy, till the year 2024, the agricultural consumers can clear the arrears in instalments with rebates in principal amount, interest and penalty.
Earlier, Shiv Sena MLA Balaji Kalyankar demanded that farmers' electricity connections, snapped for non-payment of dues, be restored.
Amid noisy scenes from members of both the opposition and treasury benches, the House had to be adjourned thrice. BJP members were in the well of the House shouting slogans against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis demanded that the state government immediately make an announcement on the issue of power supply to farmers. He stated that Ajit Pawar had said farmers' power connections will not be cut till May this year. Still, his assurance is not being followed and farmers are committing suicide, the BJP leader said.
He said if the issue of farmers' unrest is not highlighted in the Assembly, the cultivators will not forgive the elected representatives.
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