Maha Vikas Aghadi govt can only launch probes: Fadnavis on power bill dues

With the Maharashtra government blaming the previous BJP-led regime for the rise in the electricity bill arrears and announcing a probe into the dues, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday attacked the Uddhav Thackeray-led dispensation, saying that it can't do anything except launching inquiries.

He also said that although the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had earlier promised to waive the power bills, it has now realised that it was not possible.

State Energy Minister Nitin Raut on Friday blamed the Fadnavis-led government for the rise in the electricity bill arrears and said CM Thackeray has ordered an inquiry into the dues of the state-run power company.

Talking to reporters in Nagpur over the issue, Fadnavis said, "I feel it is absolutely funny. Earlier, they said that power bills will be waived, but now when they realised thatit is not possible, they said they will initiate an inquiry."

"They can conduct as many enquiries as they want. Through the inquiry, it will come to light that the pending electricity bills were actually from the Congress-NCP government's tenure. So it will actually be an inquiry into themselves," he said.

"They (government) can't do anything else...they can only initiate inquiries," the BJP leader alleged.

The Congress-NCP's Democratic Front government ruled Maharashtra for 15 years before the BJP came to power in 2014.

Fadnavis asserted that all the three state-run power companies performed in an excellent manner during the government led by him, when Chandrashekhar Bawankule was the energy minister.

"We purchased power at a very cheap rate...We gave concession to the poor and farmers during our rule. If you (the government) have the courage, you also go ahead and do it," the Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Assembly said.

The BJP has been targeting the MVA government over consumers' complaint of getting inflated electricity bills during the pandemic.

Earlier this month, Nitin Raut had hinted at a major relief to the consumers facing the issue of inflated power bills, saying that a Diwali gift was in the offing.

However, a few days back, the minister had said that the government will not be able to provide any relaxation in the inflated electricity bills that consumers received and that they will have to make full payment of the bills.