The General Manager of Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST), Jagdish Patil, has written to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner asking for a grant of Rs 400 Crores this month, and Rs 600 Crore by October to pay back their own electricity dues to Tata Power Company (TPC).
This comes after a report released by the undertaking reveals unpaid bills for purchase of electricity in Mumbai since March due to “an acute financial crisis”.
We have to pay employee salaries and other dues. Besides, we have to repay principal and interest amounts for loans taken from BMC (around Rs 487 crore), short-term loans (Rs 778 crore) and an overdraft of Rs 350 crore.Jagdish Patil, General Manager, BEST speaking to The Times of India
The BEST has been facing an additional loss of Rs 900 crores — annually — in its transport division and has been levying a Transport Deficit Recovery Loss (TDRL) surcharge on over 10 lakh power consumers in Mumbai since 2012, amounting to over 15 percent of the bill for commercial users. The case is currently in the Supreme Court, after the BEST filed an appeal against the appellate tribunal for electricity (Aptel), which struck down the cross-subsidising of losses by burdening consumers.
If this case goes against the undertaking, the BEST may have to pay a hefty sum to supply power to the island city, keeping in mind a pre-existing deficit of Rs 902 crores this fiscal year, already. The undertaking purchases power from the Tata Power Plant in Chembur at very high rates due to strict pollution norms in Mumbai..
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