The committee, which will not only supervise the recovery of arrears but will also give suitable installments to the defaulters, will include technical member Mr SV Deo and accounts member Mr A Krishna Rao.

Mr Bhave told The Financial Express on Friday that the committee has been set up to avoid various administrative wranglings in the recovery of dues as well as to streamline the procedure for the liquidation of arrears through proper installments to defaulters.

The formation of the committee is significant in the light of a state cabinet decision on September 13 to give full powers to MSEB for the recovery of these dues by resorting to disconnection. The state cabinet has also asked the MSEB, which is reeling under severe financial crunch, not to give any relief to defaulters on the payment of monthly bills.

Of the Rs 4,280 crore, agricultural consumers owe Rs 1,100 crore while arrears of Rs 2,000 crore have to be recovered from residential, commercial and high tension consumers. MSEB will have to recover nearly Rs 478 crore from various state government departments for providing power for street lights and for public works purposes.

Mr Bhave said that the state government's decision will go a long way in helping the MSEB speed up the recovery process.

"In fact, following the state cabinet's decision, I am now receiving callsfor drawing suitable installments from defaulters. This is really a positive development," he said.

Mr Bhave, who has decided to crackdown on defaulters, has sent a special circular to all MSEB chief engineers in the field and has asked them to "ensure the presence of line staff and officers at their headquarters and insist on punctuality while attending office." He said that in the view of the state cabinet's decision, the recovery of current bills should be 100 per cent.

"During the review in some of the regions, it was observed that adequate attention is not being paid to recovery matters and that disconnection for non-payment of bills is viewed very leniently," Mr Bhave said, adding that it will be the personal responsibility of chief engineers to ensure a 100 per cent recovery of current bills.

He has also asked the chief engineers to publish notices repeatedly in the press for the information of the general public about the likely disconnection of power supply to the local body. This notice should be published every week for three weeks and if the current bill is still not paid at the end of the fourth week, the supply will be disconnected, he added.

On payment of installments, Mr Bhave said that if defaulters fail to pay dues based on appropriate installments, the power supply should be disconnected forthwith.

As far as the recovery of bills from the politically sensitive agricultural and powerloom consumers is concerned, Mr Bhave said that the state government has already issued instructions in this regard according to the recent order by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC).