Maharashtra scraps work orders of Rs 600 cr, to conduct special audit of power companies

* Guardian Ministers to head committees for respective districts and monitor functioning of power companies, MLAs to head tehsil-level committees
By Kartik Lokhande 
Maharashtra Government will be conducting special and independent audit of State-run power utilities namely Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (Mahagenco), and Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (Mahatransco).
Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Energy Minister, made this announcement in Legislative Assembly on Friday. Further, he announced, work orders to the tune of Rs 600 crore issued during the tenure of erstwhile Democratic Front (DF) Government would be scrapped. “The work orders have been scrapped as it has come to the notice of the Government that these were issued to the contractors at higher rates than the tender amount,” he said. 

Chandrashekhar Bawankule

Talking to ‘The Hitavada’ over telephone, Bawankule said that the work orders were scrapped in case of 16 tenders. “All the work orders were issued on a single date, and all were issued at rates higher than the tender amount by 10 per cent to 15 per cent. All the tenders pertained to works in MSEDCL,” he said.
It may be recalled here that a day ago, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader, had alleged that there was rampant corruption in State-run power companies especially in 15 years. Interestingly, for most of these years of Congress-NCP rule, Ajit Pawar, senior NCP leader, was the Energy Minister. Vikhe-Patil alleged that on a single date a company’s tender worrth Rs 4,372 crore was cleared. Despite infrastructure plan of Rs 950 crore, an additional amount of Rs 850 crore was spent. A huge amount of Rs 700 crore was simply waived by charging only one per cent penalty. Payment was released to a company though it did not install capacitors, alleged Vikhe-Patil.
Replying to the debate on Friday, Bawankule announced in Legislative Assembly that committees will be constituted at district and tehsil levels to monitor the functioning of power companies. Guardian Minister will head district-level committee while MLA will head tehsil-level committee. The district-level committee will have MLAs, Members of Parliament, and Mayor as members. Chief Engineer will be the Member Secretary of district-level committee.
The Energy Minister was replying to allegations of Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Leader of Opposition, that there was corruption in the State-run power companies. Vikhe-Patil sought CBI probe into the matter, to which Bawankule said that probe and special audit would be conducted but there was no need for CBI probe. A ‘milestones chart’ of the three State-run power companies would be prepared to ensure that projects were completed on time, he said. Further, he added, work orders with higher rates would be scrapped.
Bawankule informed the House that the total debt burden on Mahagenco, Mahatransco, and MSEDCL was Rs 55,058 crore. Admitting that there were several ‘issues’ in Energy Department, he assured that within two years he would effect radical changes in the functioning of State-run power companies.

3,230 MW generation projects
to be completed by June 2016
Against the backdrop of increasing demand of power, the projects with generation capacity of 3,230 MW will be completed by June 2016, said Chandrashekhar Bawankule. Thesee projects are at Koradi, Chandrapur, and Parali. Considering ever-increasing demand for power, more power projects with generation capacity of 5,000 MW will have to be taken up by the year 2025, he said.
Due to shortage of coal in last two years, thermal power projects with generation capacity of 1,805 MW were stalled, the Energy Minister said. Besides, he said, private power projects with generation capacity of 1,506 MW including the one at Dabhol were non-functional due to failure in executing the power purchase agreement (PPA). How to revive these projects would be discussed with Mahagenco and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) soon.

Priority to sewage-based
power generation
To secure power generation for future requirements, Bawankule said, priority would be accorded to generation of power by using sewage from municipal corporations in the State. This will secure water supply required for power projects. It may be mentioned here that Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has signed an agreement for sale of sewage to Mahagenco.

‘No additional burden of
higher tariff on consumers’
MSEDCL has submitted a proposal to Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) regarding hike in power tariff by 8 per cent. However, Energy Minister said, consumers will not be burdened with higher tariff. For the purpose, State Government will ensure that transmission and distribution losses of State-run power utilities are checked.
Further, to reduce transmission and distribution losses, pre-paid meters will be installed and efforts will be made to bring down the losses to 15-16 per cent by the year 2015-16, said Bawankule. Referring to the issue of 12,000 villages not having feeder connection and facing load-shedding, he said that a feeder separation programme would be taken up and a proposal was sent to the Centre for financial assistance. In the second phase, 14,000 villages with single feeder will be taken up, he added.
State is exploring options of alternative power generation. Accordingly, a Solar Power Generation Policy to tap generation potential of 14,400 MW will be placed before the State Legislature soon, he added.

Backlog of 5 lakh agricultural pumps
in Vidarbha, Marathwada regions
Energy Minister informed the House that there was a backlog of energisation of five lakh agricultural pumps in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions. This backlog will be removed by December 2016 and a Rs 1,000 crore scheme will be launched for the purpose. Besides, the  Central Government had approved 7,540 solar agricultural pumps for Maharashtra. In areas that have witnessed farmers’ suicides, these solar pumps would be provided if beneficiaries pay only 5 per cent of the cost, he said. He added that all District Collectors and Agriculture Officers had been asked to prepare a list of beneficiaries.

Bar, dhaba to have
pre-paid power meter
Taking cognisance of reports that power theft/pilferage was rampant at beer bars and dhaba (road-side eateries), Energy Department will be installing pre-paid power meters there. If power theft/pilferage comes to the fore at bar/dhaba, fine would be recovered on the spot, said Bawankule. 

(Filed on March 20, 2015)