Ajit Pawar agrees to Merc order on Mpecs takeover

The deputy chief minister and power minister, Ajit Pawar, on Monday justified the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (Merc) ruling against the Mula-Pravara Electric Cooperative Society (MPECS).

“It is necessary to take proper action if wrong things are done,” he told reporters in Aurangabad.

However, he hastily added that the dispute was between the Merc and MPECS and the state government was not involved in it.

Mpecs, one of the few cooperative societies in the country engaged in power distribution, buys power from the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) and distributes it to 183 villages in five talukas of Ahmednagar district.

However, it owes over Rs2,200 crore to the MSEDCL.
MPECS is dominated by senior Congress leader, Balasaheb Vikhe Patil. His son, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil is the state agriculture minister.

According to Pawar, the MSEDCL has completed all legal processes to recover the huge dues of Rs2,200 crore from MPECS and notices were issued because the period of the licence had expired.