MUMBAI: Ahead of the monsoon session of the state assembly, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has directed senior officials of MSEDCL not to stop power supply to any farmer across Maharashtra for non payment of bills.
Although this decision has come as a “huge relief” and benefited several farmers across the state, it has also led to complete stoppage of an ongoing campaign to recover power bill arrears from over lakhs of farm defaulters in Maharashtra, sources said. Many farmers have not paid their bills for several months, an official said.
However, the reasons cited are genuine, the official said, adding that farmers had suffered huge losses due to heavy rain/floods during monsoon and also the rabi crop sowing season was on since November. MSEDCL managing director Vijay Singhal, in a media statement, said that the deputy CM had issued directives asking all officials to stop disconnecting electricity supply to farmers who had defaulted and restore connections, wherever action was taken in the past few months.
