Bhubaneswar: As many as 23 major industrial houses in Odisha have not paid their pending electricity bills, stated energy minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo in the Odisha Assembly on Wednesday.
As per the minister’s reply, the total outstanding amount with those 23 major industries is around Rs 1096 crore. The pending list revealed Jindal has to pay Rs 285 crore, Visa Steel Rs 246 crore, GMR Kamalanga Energy Rs 179 crore and Maithan Ispat Limited Rs 85 crore.
Taking a dig at the previous regime, Singh Deo informed the House that the BJD government in the last 10 years allowed 14 major industries to get power tariff exemption to the tune of Rs 4,097 crore, which was shocking.
He further stated that Vedanta Limited was the highest beneficiary with Rs 3599 crore in 10 years. Similarly, the BJD government exempted Jindal Steel Rs 103 crore and J K Paper Mills Rs 26 crore, he added.
the electricity duty for these 14 industries was exempted since the financial year 2015-16 under schemes such as the Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR) and the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Policy.
