Rohit Kumar
Port Blair, 17 June 2021
Mr. Vishal Jolly, Former State President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Member of Home Ministry Advisory Committee has written individual letters to Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister of MSME; Mr. G Kishan Reddy, Hon’ble Minister of State for Home Affairs; and Mr. Prahlad Singh Patel, Hon’ble Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge) requesting them to direct A & N Administration to comply with JERC’s order dated 2nd December 2020.
The Hon’ble Chairperson, Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for Goa & UTs on 2nd December 2020 had ordered that MSMEs having Udyam Registration including hospitality sector shall be charged for electricity at Industrial rates in A & N islands.
Mr. Vishal Jolly further informed the Ministers that in contravention of the JERC’s order the Electricity Department of Andaman and Nicobar Administration has handed MSMEs a rude shock by charging them at commercial rates. He further added that the MSMEs have also been threatened with power disconnection in case they fail to pay their bills at commercial rates.
He further wrote that the Govt. of India has taken several steps to mitigate the impact of pandemic by wavier of property tax, discount in power tariffs etc. but Andaman and Nicobar Administration instead of providing any relief is making it hard for the MSMEs (including tourism and allied sectors of the Island) to survive by increasing the electricity tariff by nearly 100%.