mumbai maharashtra has an annual subsidy bill of rs 8500 crore in the power sector but what is worrying for staterun power distributor msedcl is that bill arrears of subsidised consumers has gone up to nearly five times this amount outstanding dues stand at over rs 42000 crore and they are mainly owed by farmers an official told toia combination of factors ranging from votebank politics to the need for incentivising both agriculture and industry prevents the state from enforcing better compliance even though mounting dues stall muchneeded investments in infrastructure and create a deficit in power supply officials say subsidies are not likely to be phased out any time soonin maharashtra around rs 5500 crore is given as subsidy to farmers whose monthly power tariff is 80 less than that of a residential consumer over 45 lakh agriculture consumers benefit from this subsidised tariff which is as low as rs 150 per unit compared to actual cost of supply which would be rs 734 per unit said an official but arrears are mounting and recovery has become a major challenge for the governmentmaharashtra state electricity distribution company limited msedcl md vijay singhal said that whatever be the ground realities state subsidy is essential and a must for agriculture users as well as for sectors like powerlooms textiles and industries in vidarbhamarathwada we have to ensure electricity at subsidised rates for farmers and also need to encourage growth of industries in the vidarbhamarathwada region while at the same time incentivise the textile and powerloom industries said singhalthe subsidy bill for vidarbhamarathwada industries is rs 1200 crore annually while that for textiles is rs 750 crore the remaining rs 1100 crore subsidy is for the powerloom sector there are nearly 14 lakh looms in maharashtra and over 30 lakh employees depend on them for livelihood sources saidpower expert ashok pendse said it was a question of survival for lakhs of powerloom workers and the units they are employed in subsidy should never stop take the case of industries in vidarbha and marathwada which faced delays in getting subsidies in the past one year for reasons best known to the government and this was unwarrantedr b goenka of vidarbha industries association said the stoppage of subsidy for a few months recently was a big setback for industries in vidarbha and marathwada he warned that this could affect growth of industries which face competition from neighbouring chhattisgarh where power price is lower and cost of production cheaper so we need more subsidies to encourage industries here else there are indications of migration to neighbouring states if the government fails to revise its policies he said adding that he discussed it with the government last monthdy cm devendra fadnavis speaking in nagpur last month said the government will resolve subsidyrelated issues so that it encourages more companies to set up base in the region goenka said subsidy for industries has reduced from over a rupee per unit to 45 paise per unit and needs