What is common between Ajit Pawar, Dilip Walse Patil, Raosaheb Danve, Ravi Rana, Rajesh Tope, Vijaykumar Gavit and Subhash Deshmukh, apart from being politicians and public figures? They are all defaulters in the records of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), the state-owned electricity distribution utility. Significantly, two of them – Pawar and Walse Patil – are former energy ministers of Maharashtra.
A total of 372 VIPs and high-profile consumers like ministers, elected representatives, politicians and their kin, owe ₹1.27 crore to the MSEDCL. The default is for connections across categories like residential, commercial, and agriculture as on April 30. While some of these amounts run into a few hundreds or thousands, the others are worth lakhs.
“The country and the state are facing a power and coal crisis. The coal companies are seeking money from the state. The state government is refusing to help us financially, yet we are trying to avoid load shedding. In such circumstances, power consumers, especially the VIPs, must pay their bills and dues,” a senior MSEDCL official said.
The list of VIP defaulters compiled by MSEDCL officials has, among others, deputy chief minister Pawar, who reportedly owes ₹14,123.86 and ₹9,162.12 for two commercial connections at Hadapsar in Pune, home minister Walse Patil who is yet to pay ₹3,541.14 for a residential connection at Manchar, public health minister Tope ( ₹341.75 for a residential connection at Jalna) and his wife Manisha ( ₹19,115.12 for a commercial connection at Aurangabad), state minister Sandipan Bhumre ( ₹9,631.78) and his son Vilas ( ₹1,50,980.07 and ₹1,463.59), and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Rajni Patil ( ₹3,07,894).
Independent MLA Rana too is reportedly in default of ₹3,8671.53 towards a commercial connection at Amravati. Nationalist Congress Party MLA from Khed-Alandi Dilip Mohite reportedly owes ₹2,66,038.59, and ₹87,172.38 and ₹77,663.24 are pending in the name of his wife Surekha.
Gavit, who is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former minister, has reportedly defaulted on ₹42,130.89 towards a residential connection in Nandurbar, while former BJP minister Deshmukh ( ₹2,358.6 and ₹409.8) is also on the list.
Former Shiv Sena MP Chandrakant Khaire, who is shown in default of ₹726.05 and ₹698 for two residential connections in Aurangabad, said he had cleared all his dues. “I have paid ₹58 lakh on all my connections. This list [of defaulters] is wrong.”
Sena Lok Sabha MP from South Mumbai Arvind Sawant, who is shown with pending dues of ₹424.69 for a residential connection at Kankavali, too claimed that he had cleared his dues, and added that he would look into it.
BJP MLA and former minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who is shown in default of ₹11,151.83 on an agricultural connection, said there was no bill pending in his name. “We are consumers who pay bills regularly. Unfortunately, the MSEDCL often sends its bills late… We pay lakhs annually as electricity bills.”
Tope and Bhumre could not be reached for reaction. Dilip Mohite said he paid his bills on Friday but had sought transparency and clarification from the utility on the charges and taxes levied like wheeling charges and fuel adjustment charges.