Defaulting farmers get MSEB’s VIP treatment

MUMBAI: A high-power team of 22 VIPs is pounding the dusty interiors of the state in their white Ambassadors trailed by Tata Sumos.At country corners, they halt to make a stirring speech.
This is no poll rally,but ‘Operation Arrears Attack’ by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) to coax money out of its largest chunk of defaulters, the farmers.And the VIPs are the board’s seniormost office-bearers— up to chairperson Asoke Basak.
In a mega-campaign to repair its balance sheet, the MSEB has launched Krishi Sanjeevani Yojana with an enormous lolly for agricultural defaulters —pay up 50 per cent of your principal amount, and the balance, including the interest and delayed payment charges thereon, will be waived.
The amount can be paid in three equal instalments from January to March.
At last count, the MSEB is reeling under arrears of Rs 9,500 crore, of which Rs 3,148 crore is accounted for by the agricultural sector. If the scheme runs its course, the MSEB will land Rs 1,037 crore in its kitty, as the principal dues of the farmers amount to Rs 2,074 crore.
A brainchild of power minister Dilip Walse-Patil, the scheme is drawing good response in many places. In Nagpur, farmers are queuing up to pay. On a single day, 73 of them paid up. In Parbhani district, the campaign has rendered three villages—Maregaon, Kavalgaon and Pimpalgaon— debtfree.
Under the scheme, defaulting farmers have to pay up their last bill for April-September 2003 by January 31 to be eligible for the waiver. Accordingly, the MSEB hopes to net Rs 600 crore by this monthend.
Conscious of the fact that defaulters always seem to get away with sops, the MSEB has also incorporated a bonanza for the farmers who are punctual in their payments. Those who have already paid their current bills will be given a 50 per cent discount over the entire year.
Though starved of cash itself, the government will share some of the MSEB’s waiver burden. It will reimburse the MSEB to the extent of the principal amount not paid by the farmers and half the interest amount, totalling Rs 1,547 crore.