Mumbai: MSEDCL sent a hefty amount of electricity bills with the approval of the state government, the MSEDCL plundered the hard-earned money of the common man. This is a scam to meet the financial needs of MSEDCL, alleged BJP leader and former Member of Parliament (MP) Kirit Somaiya at a press conference on Friday.
He was speaking at a press conference held at the BJP state office. Prior to the press conference, Maharashtra State BJP President Chandrakant Patil published the booklet 'Mahavitarancha Kala Chitha' brought out on the MSEDCL scam. For the last eight months, the state government has been thinking about how to cause delay in every other issue, said Patil. On this occasion, Chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye, MLC Niranjan Davkhare, General Secretary Shrikant Bharatiya and former MLA Raj Purohit were present.
Somaiya said that the state government announced the decision to charge average electricity bills during the lockdown, but actually only average bills for April, May and June were dispatched. While stating that the bills for the month of July will be based on the actual meter readings, in reality the bills double and triple the amount were sent. MSEDCL needed Rs 20,000 crore to pay the salaries of its employees and maintain the power supply. Due to the helplessness shown by the state government, the state government itself, while sitting in Mantralaya decided to rob the common man in the form of such increased bills. It has been revealed that more than 1 lakh customers have been given increased electricity bills by showing increased consumption readings up to 5,000 units. He also mentioned that MSEDCL had admitted to have sent increased tariff bills and agreed to amend the bills of many.
He also demanded that the state government should impose a stay on the July readings, withdraw the July bills and repeal the extra 20 to 22 per cent bill that was charged during the lockdown. They should also extend the deadline for paying electricity bills. 100 specimen copies of increased electricity bills was collected from all parts of the state like Konkan, Vidarbha, Western Maharashtra, Khandesh and Mumbai and 'Mahavitarancha Kala Chitha', that will be sent to the Energy Minister. He also added that a party delegation will soon call Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan and draw his attention to the problem.