Nursery can’t be charged industry tariff, discom told

GURGAON: Bringing respite to a horticulture unit-cum-nursery in Manesar, the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) has directed the discom to charge the unit under the agricultural or horticultural category.
The move follows a petition filed in HERC by Sheetal Biotech Limited, which deals in plant tissue culture and runs a nursery. In the petition, it argued that DHBVN has been charging industrial tariff, taking away subsidy meant for horticulture units.
Satyapal Singh, manager of Sheetal Biotech, claimed that the company deals in production of fruit and flowering plants through tissue culture and supplies to farmers in Haryana and neighbouring states. “Though we use laboratory methods for our work, it is not industrial. We should have been given the benefit of state subsidies from day one,” he said.
HERC directed the discom on October 20 to obtain a consent from the state government on whether the nursery was eligible for subsidized tariff.
DHBVN was also asked to inform the government about the financial implications involved, highlight the nature of activity that tissue culture falls under, and also explain whether the same was a commercial activity or not.
Following the government’s response that tissue culture is indeed a horticulture activity, and the consumer be charged at the same rate as other horticulture activities, it was decided that the state government should pay additional subsidy calculated at the present tariff to the discom to compensate for the revenue loss.