Nitin Raut. 

State Energy Minister Nitin Raut on Thursday urged the central government to provide financial assistance of Rs 10,000 crore to override the loss faced by state’s power distribution company, Mahavitaran, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In his letter, Raut said, “The industrial and commercial consumption, which amounted 60 percent of the revenue, could not get realised during the lockdown period, which put Mahavitaran in a precarious financial condition.” He said that due to the pandemic, Mahavitaran, which is the largest distribution company of India, is grappling with acute fund shortage.

He added that MSEDCL approached different banks, financial institutions for assistance, but they have not responded positively. The minister also said the company had a total outstanding debt of Rs 38,282 crore as of March 2020, for which the company was paying Rs 900 per month to serve the debt.

The state power company is presently facing flak due to the high power bills that have been generated in the month of June. The MSEDCL had claimed that it was generating bills during lockdown based on the average consumption of consumers for three months before March as its staffers were not allowed to enter societies to take meter readings. As a result, the power bills for the month of March, April and May were less.