The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) has been able to recover a whopping Rs 30.59 crore from over 19,000 consumers. The supply of these consumers had been permanently disconnected last year due to various reasons in the Pune zone, which comprises Pune city, Pimpri Chinchwad and tehsils Haveli, Ambegaon, Maval, Junnar, Khed, Mulshi and Velhe in Pune district.
The power distributor’s spokesperson said that a verification drive is underway to assess whether the power connections can be restored.
More than 80, 000 power connections had been disconnected and around 61,397 had been inspected so far, according to an official statement from MSEDCL. Now, action is being taken against 1,735 customers for theft of electricity worth Rs 3.13 crore.
Chairman and Managing Director of MSEDCL, Vijay Singhal, has said that several measures are being taken to increase revenue generation. A campaign is underway to recover dues from consumers who have failed to pay arrears. Outstanding arrears amount to over Rs 417 crore, according to the statement.
Usually, supply is permanently disconnected when the consumer fails to pay along with pending arrears.
Apart from this, there is a demand at times from consumers to disconnect the service in case the industries concerned are not functional. As per MSEDCL data in Pune zone, supply has been cut off permanently for 2.66 lakh consumers.
Physical verification is underway and in the first phase a list of more than 80,000 consumers has been prepared.
Rajendra P awar Chief Engineer, Pune zone of MSEDCL said that officials are visiting the sites of permanently disconnected meters for physical verification and police protection is being provided in some areas.
