PUNE: The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) recently snapped the power supply of over 1,800 schools in Pune district over non-payment of dues of Rs 2.28 crore.
The MSEDCL also took away the electricity meters of around 128 schools over pending bills.
Pune zilla parishad (ZP) vice-president Ranjit Shivtare said the pendency was due to the closure of schools because of Covid-19 and the non-receipt of grants from the Centre. He said the local panchayats had been asked to help pay the electricity bills for their respective schools.
Pune ZP has 3,639 primary schools under its umbrella while around 2,680 secondary schools belong to private managements or trusts. “The electricity meters of 128 ZP schools were removed and power was snapped to over 500 primary schools. During our review meeting, we learnt that the Central government grant (Rs5,000-10,000) under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan had not been given to schools for the past one year. This is the money the schools use for paying bills, among other dues,” Shivtare said.
“We have requested the respective gram panchayats to pay off bills in instalments wherever they can within the next three weeks. We will hold a review again next month to check the status and decide on further course of action. The pending electricity dues are to the tune of Rs 2.28 crore. We had initially written to the government and the electricity board to waive off the amount, but that may not be possible,” Shivtare added.
An MSEDCL official said that it was true that electricity dues had increased in the rural parts of the region which had resulted in connections being snapped. But now that the ZP officials have said they would be paying up, the power connections would be restored, he said.
The official said that urban or corporation areas usually make consistent payments with regard to power dues of schools and other civic facilities. However, pendcy in rural areas in terms of schools, water supply or street lights are generally high.
