Tired of over 40 per cent of people not paying up their electricity bills, MSEDCL has decided to outsource bill collection to a third party
While Mumbra residents and local politicians prepare to protest against the ‘unfair’ load shedding dumped upon them by MSEDCL, as per figures the area owes around 45 per cent of the pending dues to the power supplier. Tired of over 40 per cent of people not paying up their electricity bills, MSEDCL has decided to outsource bill collection to a third party.
According to the TMC (Thane municipal corporation) officials, over 80 per cent of tenements in Mumbra are illegal. Of those residing in Mumbra only 60 per cent pay their electricity bills honestly.
“We have over Rs 650 crores of dues from Bhandup Zone. Out of which Rs 300 crores is owned by Mumbra residents,” says a senior official from MSEDCL (Maharashtra state electricity distribution company limited). Bhandup zone includes areas of - Mulund, Bhandup, Thane circle -1, 2, 3, Wagle estate and Mumbra-Shil. These dues include the amount owned by those whose meters were disconnected.
While people want uninterrupted power supply, the same urgency is missing when it comes to the payment of dues. “There have been cases of violence against our officials who were beaten up by residents when they went to collect the dues in Mumbra,” says the official. In the financial year 2017-18, MSEDCL caught 2,360 power theft cases in Mumbra, lodged 469 FIRs and registered 11 cases of manhandling of their officials. In the year 2018-19, there have been 983 cases of power theft, out of which 240 FIRs were lodged and there were five cases of manhandling of officials.
Seeing this hopeless situation, MSEDCL has now decided to outsource its bill collection in Mumbra to a third party. On October 9 they have invited tenders for the same. Residents who pay their electricity bills religiously say rather than outsourcing, MSECL should do the bill collection. Another resident Abdul Salaam Malik says that the number of Rs 300 crores as dues look rigged.
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 "Electricity")
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