Mumbai: Activist wants BEST to return over Rs 2,800 cr taken as TDLR

Pay Mumbaikars their Rs 2,800-crore collected through Transport Deficit Loss Recovered (TDLR) — a component in the electricity bills paid by 10 lakh residing in the island city — meant to recover losses accrued by running buses

Pay Mumbaikars their Rs 2,800-crore collected through Transport Deficit Loss Recovered (TDLR) — a component in the electricity bills paid by 10 lakh residing in the island city — meant to recover losses accrued by running buses.

This is what Kamlakar Shenoy, the man who went against the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) to get the TDLR levy stopped, has asked the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) to do.

“I have already made a presentation to the MERC and sent a letter about this refund that BEST should make,” said K Shenoy, member, Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR). The Undertaking has been collecting this TDLR for nearly 5 years with the logic that the losses made for running their buses used by 32-35 lakh daily, need to be recovered from the 10 lakh people who are their power consumers residing in the island city between Cuffe Parade and Sion/Mahim.

To end in November
This comes at a time when the BEST Undertaking has decided that November would be the last month when the entire amount of TDLR shall be recovered. TDLR ranges from 0.55 paise to Rs 1.85 depending on the number of units.

According to officials, on October 5 the Supreme Court ordered the BEST to stop collecting TDLR from the 10-lakh Mumbaikars who receive electricity from it. In total since 2011-12 the BEST has collected R2,860.69-crore from people through TDLR, until August 2016.

“We will be incurring additional burden of R650-crore, which we could have recovered from TDLR,” said Jagdish Patil, General Manager, BEST Undertaking.

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