The State Cabinet on Wednesday extended the period of concessional power to industrial consumers of Vidarbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra falling in D and D plus category. The Cabinet gave its approval to run the scheme for next five years starting from 2019-20.
Earlier, the sub-committee chaired by Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule had given its approval to the same and the concessional power tariffs were implemented from April 1, 2016. The other committee members comprised Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan, Minister for Transport Diwakar Raote, Minister for Social Justice Rajkumar Badole and Minister for Tribal Development Vishnu Sawara. The committee after having two meetings approved the extension to the duration of the scheme. The scheme is run since April 1, 2016 wherein the industrial consumers are given concessional power based on fuel adjustment cost and the capacity of the industry in addition to promote new industries in the region. The government spent an amount of Rs 2 crore towards the scheme in the year 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Following is the description of division-wise industrial consumers
Region                              No of consumers                            Percentage
Vidarbha               55,439                         14%
Marathwada            39,465                          10%
North Maharashtra      55,530                          14%
Rest of Maharashtra    2,43,919                        62%
Total                  3,94,353                        100
The chart shows that number of industrial consumers in rest of Maharashtra is higher compared to Vidarbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra. Hence, there is a need to promote industrial development in these regions.
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