BMC offices owe Rs 12 crore in arrears to Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport

Offices of education officers of the BEST in wards A, E, D and F north, along with hospitals and schools under nine wards in the BMC, are liable for due supply payments to the utility, figures state.

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The BMC has formulated a rescue plan for the entire city using the findings of the report. Express Archive

AROUND 71 offices of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), classified under commercial or residential users, owe over Rs 12 crore in arrears as power supply payments to its loss-making bus and electricity supply utility, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking.

Most of these offices, however, have continued to enjoy uninterrupted connections despite non-payment, some of them for as long as 14 years, figures indicate. The utility supplies power to the island city and some parts of the suburbs till Sion. Under the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), 14 residential offices and 57 commercial offices have payments pending to the BEST. Offices of education officers of the BEST in wards A, E, D and F north, along with hospitals and schools under nine wards in the BMC, are liable for due supply payments to the utility, figures state.

Among these, around 10 offices have uninterrupted power supply for the past 10 years without any immediate bill payment. “The payments of some offices have been pending for as long as 10 years due to various reasons. While some managed to pay the immediate dues, others made requests saying that the same will be cleared in a span of 10-15 days. A pending payment also benefits the undertaking with added interest amounts and thus, we did not rush with the payments earlier,” a senior BEST official said.

According to detailed records of arrears received by the Indian Express, the undertaking has received only Rs 87 lakhs from the last monthly payment for March by some offices under BMC .These offices still owe Rs10 crores to the undertaking.

“ We had started keeping detailed records of arrears of pending supply payments to be able to collect the dues at the earliest. We have almost reached our borrowing limit for taking loans and thus availing of the pending dues will be the solution to the huge loan paybacks and other short-term expenditures,” a senior BEST official said.

“Various schools under BMC have assured us to clear payments within a month. We also plan to be strict regarding collecting the pending supply payments now before it is too late. As far as other offices under BMC is concerned, they have assured us of speedy payments as well,” the BEST official added.

Every month, BEST pays an installment of Rs 40 crores to repay a Rs 1,600 crores loan granted to it by the BMC in 2012-13. Officials said that BMC charges a late fee to the undertaking in case the latter falters on paying the installment on time.The undertaking still owes Rs 700 crores from the total amount to be re-paid to BMC.

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“The parent body of BMC itself defaults on payments to its own body. It will be difficult to save this organisation under this status quo,” Ravi Raja, BMC’s opposition leader from the Congress and committee member said.

The figures say BEST is owed a total of Rs 80 crores of pending arrears from various offices of the central government, state government, BMC and non-governmental offices. neha.kulkarni@expressindia.com

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