Nagpur: Congress MLA Sunil Kedar sprang a surprise during the hearing on power tariff hike on Tuesday when he targeted his senior Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil over arrears of Mula Pravara society. The hearing had been organized by Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC).
The Mula Pravara cooperative society owes Rs2,500 crore to the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd (MSEDCL) and Kedar claimed that the discom had waived off Rs1,000 crore. The Vikhe-Patil family used to run the society, whose area of jurisdiction lies in Ahmednagar district.
Earlier, activists of Youth Congress and NSUI created ruckus during the hearing raising slogans against state government and the MSEDCL over the proposed hike. The hearing was disrupted for over 20 minutes due to the commotion. Some 20 NSUI activists were detained by the police and taken to police headquarters. They were released after sometime.
Kedar had a heated exchange of words with MERC members, when they objected to activists raising slogans. “This is a public hearing and people have right to express their feelings. If you don’t allow this then change the nature of hearing and allow only selected people to attend it,” he said. Congress corporator Praful Gudadhe-Patil objected to use of the word “elements” for the activists by MERC member Mukesh Khullar.
The MLA slammed the government for not recovering Rs2,000 crore from Reliance, which until recently used to distribute power in parts of Mumbai. Now it has been taken over by Adani Group.
“The government and MSEDCL are not recovering crores from big defaulters and the discom wants a steep tariff hike. If MSEDCL gets this money there will be no need for a hike,” the MLA said.
The Congress leader pointed out that Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had raised several objections to working of the state’s power companies. “Mahagenco has not recovered money from contractors who delayed commissioning of new units. This is being recovered from common consumers instead,” he said.
He questioned why the report of three-member committee on farm pump power consumption had not been submitted to the MERC by MSEDCL. “The discom had also shoved under carpet the report on wrongdoings of Nagpur power franchisee SNDL,” he said.
Kedar claimed that MSEDCL director (commercial) Satish Chavhan had misled the consumers during his presentation on power tariff hike and demanded that the Commission take action against him.
Congress MLA Sunil Kedar
