5 Beed municipal councils to pay Rs 42.68 cr to MSEDCL

Beed, Maharashtra, Nov 11 (UNI) At least five municipal councils in the district have to pay Rs 42.68 crore to the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) for the electricity used for water supply schemes.

According to Mahavitran engineering superintendent R J Wankhede, the municipal corporations of Beed, Parli, Ambajogai, Georai and Majargaon have to pay Rs 18.46 crore, Rs 9.66 crore, Rs 3.84, Rs 9.78 crore and Rs 0.94 crore respectively to the MSEDCL. ''We requested the councils to make the payments repeatedly, but they never took any step and now it is impossible for us to bear the burden and continue supplying electricity for the water supply schemes,'' Mr Wankhede said.

However, Beed municipal council president Dr Bharat Bhushan Kshirsagar said, ''For years we have been demanding that the MSEDCL charge us by horsepower rate as in the case for agriculture lands, but they have been ignoring our demand and now we cannot pay such huge amounts. Also MSEDCL uses our land for setting up poles and transformers, but do not give pay us any rent. They should look into problems like transmission losses and electricity theft, instead of targetting municipal councils.'' UNI XR SR AG2035