Maharashtra Minister for Energy Dr Nitin Raut on Monday told the delegation of Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) comprising various bodies that the subsidy of Rs 1200 crore in power tariff for industries in backwards regions is withheld till the new policy. “The restructuring of the new policy will be finalized within the one month period,” he said adding that the subsidy will be released after restructuring the new policy along with backlogs. He was interacting with the delegation of JCC. On the occasion, the Energy Minister gave instructions to the billing department to mention this note in the energy bills or send messages to the consumers or to use any other way of communication. Besides, he gave assurance to the delegation that a sum of Rs 1,200 crore will be spent on Vidharbha, Marathwada and other backward regions of the State only and additional amount will be sanctioned for other regions if required. He also said that a committee is formed for the restructuring and its first meeting is scheduled today. He requested JCC to send suggestions for carrying out the restructuring scheme in a logical manner so that this amount lasts for year around.

 

The Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA), MIDC Industries Association (MIA) Hingna, Butibori Manufacturers Association (BMA), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Vidarbha Region, Kalmeshwar Industries Association (KIA), Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DICCI) Vidarbha Chapter and Laghu Udyog Bharati (LUB) Nagpur constitute the JCC. In addition to this, the delegation gave a detailed memorandum to Dr Raut regarding sudden stopping of tariff incentives being provided to Vidarbha, Marathwada Uttar Maharashtra, D and D+ areas of the State. The members of JCC drew the Minister’s attention towards sudden stoppage in incentives in electric bills which come as a huge shock to the industrialists and has further dented the confidence of the industrial fraternity during the current pandemic phase. Apart from this, VIA and JCC gave inputs for the same, copy of which has already been forwarded to the Minister.

 

The suggestions include: - putting a cap per month per consumer, so that budgeted amount of Rs 1,200 crore can last for whole year; scheme to be finalized before the billing of June 2021 with revised scheme to implemented with retrospective effect from April I, 2021; separate fund to be provided by GoM for giving 75 paise for new industries and expansion as envisaged in circulars issued earlier; FAC incentive to be clubbed with the main incentive policy as FAC charges have become zero; restructuring of various slabs of incentives to be done due to withdrawal of 7 per cent power factor incentive by MERC, benefit for MSME to be increased so that MSME’s can garner higher share in the total incentive scheme; 11 and 33 KV connection to be merged and have same benefit as wheeling charges for both the levels have become same and additional amount of Rs 300 crore should be provided. Ravindra Thakare, Nagpur District Collector, Radhakrishnan B, Nagpur Municipal Commissioner; Suresh Rathi, President - VIA; Pradeep Khandelwal, President - BMA; Ravleen Singh Khurana, President - Laghu Udyog Bharti; Nishchay Shelke, President - DICCI Vidarbha Chapter; Rakesh Surana, President - VPIA; Prashant Mohota, Chairman - VIA Energy Forum; Suresh Agrawal, Past President VIA; Rajendra Goenka, Pravin Tapadia, Gaurav Sarda, Shashikant Kotharkar, Shrikant Dhondrikar were present on the occasion.