The financial crisis of the Electricity Board has not been averted. The board has not paid the subsidy received from government till the last day of February and due to this, the board has stopped all its expenditure.
The board has earmarked the entire revenue for the month of February on salary and pension. The board has paid a salary and pension from the fund of about Rs 190 crore by stopping other expenses.
The main source of revenue with the board is the payment of consumers who consume more than 125 units of electricity and the board spends this revenue on electricity purchases, field demand, and allowances of the employees, but this time the board has stopped all these purchases. About 190 crore rupees have been spent on 16 thousand employees and 29 thousand pensioners.
Apart from this, outsourced employees have been paid. Now in March, the subsidy of Rs 200 crore is paid by the state government, then the board will be in a position to pay the pending expenses.
It may be noted that in lieu of making 125 units of electricity free in the state, the state government has to pay a subsidy.
Till now the payment of the subsidy of Rs 200 crore is pending. Recently, the state government got a loan of Rs 1300 crore and after that, it was expected that the board would get Rs 200 crore from this amount, but the state government has not taken any decision till the last week of February on the payment of subsidy.
In such a situation, the board has to pay the salary and pension on March 1 from its own share.
As of now, the board is now waiting for subsidy from the state government to meet the expenses for the month of March.
The state government has guaranteed to take the scope of free electricity up to 300 units, but considering the current financial condition of the board, both the board management and the employees union have called upon the government to reconsider the decision.
Electricity Board’s Managing Director Pankaj Dadhwal told that talks are going on with the government on subsidy.
The subsidy is likely to be paid in the first week of March. The electricity board has paid salaries and pensions from the revenue raised in February. Other expenses will be met by the subsidy.