NAGPUR: Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, several others and political leaders who own windmills in Sataras Patan block, havent paid taxes to local village panchayats, the legislative assembly was informed during question hour on Friday.

A debate ensued in the house on a question raised by Shambhuraj Desai, a Shiv Sena member from Patan, in Satara district. Taking note of the issue, speaker Babasaheb Kupekar directed the state to take steps to recover the tax and grants, and inform him about the progress before the state legislatures budget session.

"Stars like Aishwarya Rai have their windmills here. They are not paying their dues and we are simply watching," Kupekar said, asking the minister of state for rural affairs, Siddharam Mhetre, act on the matter immediately.

Seeking government clarification on the issue, Desai said that out of the outstanding dues of Rs16 crore, only Rs36 lakh have been recovered so far. Joining the debate, BJP leader Eknath Khadse said, "I also have a list of ruling party members who own windmills. Can we not ask them to pay the dues when poor village panchayats are suffering?"

In his defence, Mhetre said the government was considering a proposal to streamline the process of recovering dues. However, Khadse asked, "Why were the dues not recovered for so many years, when the concerned law of 1999 is clear on the matter?" The speaker lamented that the government had not initiated any action for the recovery of taxes. He directed the minister to take steps to recover the dues before the next session of the state legislature.