Bhopal: In a dressing down to Madhya Pradesh - which complains that the central government is discriminating against it, the union power ministry has told the state to stop overdrawing and clear dues worth Rs.2.98 billion ($74.5 million) or face disconnection from the power grid.

Central Energy Secretary Anil Razdan told officials from the state, who went to New Delhi to attend a meeting of states of Western Region Grid (WRG) and Northern Region Grid (NRG) Saturday, that Madhya Pradesh should stop overdrawing power from the WRG and clear the dues if it did not want supplies to be disconnected, said sources here.

"Madhya Pradesh officials, including its Energy Secretary Sanjay Bandopadhyaya, who had gone to New Delhi to raise the issue of the centre's alleged discrimination against the state were asked to clear Rs.3 billion against the power the state overdrew from the WRG in the last three months or face disconnection," a state official said Sunday.

The officials from Madhya Pradesh went to attend the meeting after a lot of homework following the state government's instructions to raise issues like less coal quota to the state thermal stations, delay in the commissioning of thermal units by Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and less central power supply to the state.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been raising the issues for quite some time. He even wrote various letters to union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in this regard. Last week, Chouhan, along with some leaders of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), observed a 24-hour fast alleging that the centre was discriminating against the State.

The BJP alleges that the power ministry has reduced the central electricity quota from the eastern regional grid to merely 50 MW from 350 MW.