Bawankule refuses DPC funds to SNDL

Nagpur: State energy minister and district guardian minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule has turned down power franchisee SNDL’s request for allocation of district planning committee (DPC) for executing power infrastructure works.
In a recent meeting, SNDL officials had said that MLAs of their area had suggested over 40 works costing over Rs11 crore. In case of MSEDCL, money for such works was sanctioned from the DPC funds.The minister, however, said that as SNDL was a private company, it would have to execute the works on its own.
A MSEDCL officer said that failure of SNDL to clear MSEDCL’s dues also influenced the minister’s decision. “The franchisee currently owes over Rs100 crore to us. In spite of repeated warnings, it has failed to pay the amount,” he added.
The officer further said that MSEDCL had already given Rs36 crore to SNDL to upgrade its power infrastructure. “Another Rs24 crore would be provided when they complete the work using this money. SNDL should not have demanded more money at all,” he added.
The central government has sanctioned Rs57 crore for upgrading SNDL power infrastructure under Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS). This money will not be provided to SNDL but MSEDCL will execute the works in the franchisee area.
The MSEDCL official said that SNDL was not spending enough on power infrastructure. “Last year, it had claimed that it had spent over Rs200 crore till then. However, the audit done by us pegged the figure at Rs120 crore. This was pointed out by the fact finding committee set up by the energy minister. As this was one of the clauses in our show cause notice issued to SNDL, the franchisee had to accept the audited figure,” he said.
SNDL business head Gautam Seth refused to tell the amount that had been spent on power infrastructure upgrade.
Dispute resolution body formed
Over five years after the distribution franchisee agreement (DFA) was signed between MSEDCL and its franchisee SNDL, the former has set up a permanent dispute resolution body (PDRB). It has been formed under article 17.2 of DFA. The members of the committee from MSEDCL side are — Sanjay Taksande, executive director (distribution — II), Satish Talnikar, chief general manager (I/A) and Narayan Amzare, executive engineer (MM Cell). The representatives of SNDL will be Himanshu Shah, Ashish Goyal and Mukesh Jain.
MSEDCL has asked SNDL to coordinate with the members of PDRB so that it can start its working as per provisions of DFA. The findings of the body will be submitted to MSEDCL within 30 days.