Nagpur: Union minister Nitin Gadkari flayed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government for not promoting solar power in Maharashtra, apprehending losses to the generation company. State energy minister Nitin Raut has refuted the charges, and said a new policy is in the offing.
Gadkari’s statement came while replying to a query on stopping of power subsidy by Maharashtra government for industries, which has been flayed in industry circles.
“Our state produces 38% power on solar currently. However, if this number increases, MSEDCL would be staring at losses. The government policy is to generate more solar energy, more losses, but if there is no generation, then there will be no losses. When I was handling MSME ministry, I had implemented a scheme for factory owners to install solar roof tops for generating power and deposit that to the grid. In return, those many units would be deducted from their bills. It was a World Bank scheme that was launched in collaboration with the State Bank of India (SBI). However, it did not receive expected support from the government,” he said.
The city MP said earlier solar power cost Rs16 per unit, which has now dropped to Rs2.40. “If this renewable energy is promoted, the industry’s electricity bills would be reduced by more than half. In this case, no one would buy costly power supplied by MSEDCL at Rs11/unit. Therefore, the government is reluctant to promote it. I think the growth should be equitable so that there is no loss of employment (of MSEDCL employees).”
Pointing out that the power sector was undergoing reforms, Gadkari called on making efforts to benefit the people and society. “Fortunately, the energy minister is from the city and industrialists should approach him with their grievances. I will also speak to him in this regard. The industries, however, need to install solar panels on their rooftops to save on the electricity cost.”
Denying his charges, energy minister Nitin Raut told TOI that the MVA government was promoting solar power in a big way in the entire state. “A new policy would soon be tabled before the cabinet on solar power utilisation. We are providing huge subsidies and concessions to those using it. The government is under obligation to generate a certain percentage of solar energy. The increased use of this form of energy would not affect our generation, transmission, and distribution companies as stated by Gadkari.”
The minister, however, added that due to Covid-19 pandemic situation and subsequent lockdowns in the country had led to fall short of the target of generation of solar power. “With the normalization of the situation, we will complete the target soon,” Raut said.