MSEDCL disconnects power supply to BSNL in Nashik March 14, 2019,

Posted On : April 20, 2019
NASHIK: The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) has disconnected power supply to 15 telephone exchange centres and mobile towers of BSNL in Nashik districtfor not paying dues of over Rs3.5 crore.

A BSNL official said no electricity for exchanges and towers have affected over 3,500 landline and broadband consumers. One of the affected telephone exchange centres is at Dwarka area of the city where close to 350 landline connections have been disrupted.

Other telephone exchange centres where power supply has been disconnected are located in Kalwan, Satana, Deola, Sinnar, Manmad and other parts of the district. Moreover, since many cell towers are not working, mobile connections have also been affected.

The BSNL is facing a cash crunch due to substantial drop in its revenue during the current fiscal and the officials have blamed the government for its policy and no efforts to strengthen the state-owned telecommunication company.

The MSEDCL has given notices to the BSNL for not clearing the electricity dues. BSNL’s general manager (Nashik district) Nitin Mahajan confirmed the snapping of power supply for its 15 telephone exchange centres.


“We are facing a cash crunch and our revenue has also dropped. We are unable to make payments to the MSEDCL due to cash crunch, but we will make payment as we get revenue through monthly payments from the customers. We have just paid Rs1 crore to the MSEDCL for exchange centres having high tension lines following the notices,” Mahajan said.

“BSNL authorities have urged the MSEDCL to resume power supply considering the Lok Sabha elections and have assured them to make payments as per availability of the revenue,” the official said.

BSNL has over 1,000 officials and employees in Nashik district and they too are yet to get their salaries for the month of February. Last month, BSNL employees had gone on a three-day strike to press for their demands. Their major demands include allotment of 4G spectrum to the company.

“Last year, the union government had assured to allot 4G spectrum to BSNL, but the company is yet to get the spectrum even after a year. There is need to give effective services to consumers and BSNL needs 4G spectrum to compete private companies,” an office-bearer of the BSNL employees union said.

“Other private telecom companies are raising funds through loans even after having previous dues of crores of rupees. BSNL has comparatively lesser dues, but the government has denied approval to BSNL to raise funds through loans,” another official said.

Currently, BSNL has a total of 5.77 lakh customers across all verticals in Nashik district. Of this, 4.50 lakh are mobile customers while 92,000 are landline users and 35,000 are broadband customers.
   

Other News

  1. Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021, Nov 29,
  2. Hydropower generation goes down due to low water level of reservoirs
  3. CENTRE TO RESCUE 32 LOSS-MAKING PRIVATE THERMAL POWER PLANTS
  4. All India Power Engineers Federation on Tuesday condemned the central government''s move to amend the National Electricity Policy "to facilitate privatisation". According to a statement by the AIPEF, the proposed changes require extensive discussions as such time for submission of comments should be six months. When fundamental changes are being introduced by way of privatization of the power sector, there is no basis to rush through more so under extreme distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it said. "All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) condemns the government of India''s move to amend the National Electricity Policy to facilitate the privatization of the power sector," the statement said. The body alleged that this is a clear attempt to introduce privatization through the backdoor and deserves to be scrapped. The purpose of the central government is not to review or revise the existing National Electricity Policy but the total replacement of existing policy with a new policy to be recommended by the expert group so as to achieve privatization, the body alleged. As per Electricity Act 2003, National Electricity Policy is to be prepared in consultation with the state governments and Central Electricity Authority (CEA), a statutory body. However, the body said that the CEA is not included in the proposed schedule of discussion. Further, only 5 states have been included in an expert group instead of all the states, it added. K Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser, has stated that India is the only country that readily implemented a slew of reforms and used this crisis to herald a change in India''s economic thinking, it said. The strategy of government seems to be “never waste a crisis” and use the crisis of pandemic to streamroll so-called reforms by way of privatizing, it alleged. The draft proposal is of serious nature for which the present situation of a pandemic is a serious constraint, it stated. The Ministry of Power has once again found peak pandemic time as an opportunity in crisis to launch the draft amendments to National Electricity Policy, it lamented. Once the draft policy is finalised, the notified policy would have the status of “subordinate legislation”, and for this reason, the matters need to deliberate as in the case of the legislation itself or as in the case of amendment in the Act itself, it opined. Draft national electricity policy is pushing for more private participation in the power sector and launching sell out of public assets as at Chandigarh and Dadra Nagar Haveli, it noted. The preferred route being suggested are failed models like the franchisee system, transferring distribution responsibility to a private party, and separation of carriage (lines) and content (supply) business, it opined. Since the existing Policy is in force since February 2005 there was no emergency to totally replace it, while power engineers and workers as front line workers are already stressed in maintaining power continuity, it added All India Power Engineers Federation on Tuesday condemned the central government''s move to amend the National Electricity Policy "to facilitate privatisation". According to a statement by the AIPEF, the proposed changes require extensive discussions as such time for submission of comments should be six months. When fundamental changes are being introduced by way of privatization of the power sector, there is no basis to rush through more so under extreme distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it said. "All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) condemns the government of India''s move to amend the National Electricity Policy to facilitate the privatization of the power sector," the statement said. The body alleged that this is a clear attempt to introduce privatization through the backdoor and deserves to be scrapped. The purpose of the central government is not to review or revise the existing National Electricity Policy but the total replacement of existing policy with a new policy to be recommended by the expert group so as to achieve privatization, the body alleged. As per Electricity Act 2003, National Electricity Policy is to be prepared in consultation with the state governments and Central Electricity Authority (CEA), a statutory body. However, the body said that the CEA is not included in the proposed schedule of discussion. Further, only 5 states have been included in an expert group instead of all the states, it added. K Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser, has stated that India is the only country that readily implemented a slew of reforms and used this crisis to herald a change in India''s economic thinking, it said. The strategy of government seems to be “never waste a crisis” and use the crisis of pandemic to streamroll so-called reforms by way of privatizing, it alleged. The draft proposal is of serious nature for which the present situation of a pandemic is a serious constraint, it stated. The Ministry of Power has once again found peak pandemic time as an opportunity in crisis to launch the draft amendments to National Electricity Policy, it lamented. Once the draft policy is finalised, the notified policy would have the status of “subordinate legislation”, and for this reason, the matters need to deliberate as in the case of the legislation itself or as in the case of amendment in the Act itself, it opined. Draft national electricity policy is pushing for more private participation in the power sector and launching sell out of public assets as at Chandigarh and Dadra Nagar Haveli, it noted. The preferred route being suggested are failed models like the franchisee system, transferring distribution responsibility to a private party, and separation of carriage (lines) and content (supply) business, it opined. Since the existing Policy is in force since February 2005 there was no emergency to totally replace it, while power engineers and workers as front line workers are already stressed in maintaining power continuity, it added
  5. Amid politicking, govt bites Rs 151-cr bullet: extends power tariff benefit by a month, Dec 12, 2021