Key points:
- The state energy department is set to spend Rs 2,500 crore per annum on infrastructure development of state-owned power distribution company Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited.
- Of the Rs 2,500 crore, around Rs 1,500 crore will be set aside for energisation of agriculture pumps and Rs 1,000 crore for strengthening infrastructure in industrial and urban areas.
Energy Minister Nitin Raut said on Friday that the state energy department is set to spend Rs 2,500 crore per annum on infrastructure development of state-owned power distribution company Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (Mahavitaran). The decision is necessary to boost industrial development.
This was decided in a meeting held between Raut and Mahavitaran officials on Thursday in Mumbai. The fund will be spent on infrastructure development, including erection of new sub-stations, installation of distribution transformers and construction of high-tension and low-tension wires.
Of the Rs 2,500 crore, around Rs 1,500 crore will be set aside for energisation of agriculture pumps and Rs 1,000 crore for strengthening infrastructure in industrial and urban areas.
“We will spend Rs 800 crore on power infrastructure development in Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation areas in the next three years. Another Rs 1,000 crore will be spent on setting up new sub-stations, transformers and bifurcation of existing sub-divisions during this period. Besides, Rs 1,200 crore will be spent to strengthen power infrastructure in urban areas in three years,” Raut told mediapersons on Friday.
He also directed Mahavitaran to regularise all unauthorised agriculture pump connections within a 30 m distance from electric supply poles. As per government estimates, there are 4.85 lakh unauthorised agriculture pump connections in the state. Of these, 30 per cent are located within 30 m from electric supply poles. “I have directed officials to regularise all these connections by March 31,” Raut said.
