No respite: Waiver of electricity bills not possible, says Nitin Raut

Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut on Tuesday announced that the state government will not be able to waiver or provide any relaxation in the inflated power bills that consumers received after the lockdown. Electricity consumers in the state will have to pay the full amount as per readings in the bill, he said.

"Mahavitaran is also a consumer, it buys electricity from other sources. Currently, the corporation is facing a deficit of Rs 69,000 crore, we cannot avail of further debt at this stage. We tried hard to provide benefits to the consumers but unfortunately, the Centre did not help us," Raut lamented.

Residents across the state have been complaining about abnormally high electricity bills, which they received after the lockdown.

Even celebrities like Nimrat Kaur, Soha Ali Khan and Neha Dhupia had taken to social media to protest the inflated bills. Taapsee Pannu was one of the first celebrities who had tweeted to complain that there has been an "insane rise" in the electricity bill for the month of June 2020.

Earlier in first week of November Raut - had announced a "Diwali bonanza" for people of the state after complaints over inflated power bills.  The minister also gave hints that a decision related to high electricty bills will be taken soon, with a waiver likely.