The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) which had opposed this privatisation tooth has nail in November when the bids were invited by MSEDCL, have vowed to give a hard time to (TPL).
Thane NCP has gone all out to stop Torrent, which has been awarded the contract of power distribution in Mumbra-Kalwa, from opening its office in the area.
With MSEDCL (Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited) passed on its burden of power distribution and bill collection in Mumbra-Kalwa to Torrent Power Limited (TPL), the latter needs to brace up to face the wrath of local politicians.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) which had opposed this privatisation tooth has nail in November when the bids were invited by MSEDCL, have vowed to give a hard time to (TPL).
"We will not even let Torrent acquire an office in the Mumbra-Kalwa. We will not let them do what they did in Bhiwandi," said senior NCP leader Anand Paranjape from Thane. "Torrent is like East India Company, which promises to give uninterrupted power supply, but will charge people heavily. The citizens will have to bear the brunt of all this," he added.
Meanwhile, residents of the area are worried they will be hit by inflated bills just like consumers of Adani power. "After power distribution was privatised in Mumbai, people began complaining of hiked electricity bills. What if the same thing happens in Mumbra?" said Tabrez Khan (name changed), a resident of Mumbra.
On being questioned about the Rs 305 crore Mumbra-Shil residents owe MSEDCL, Paranjpe said MSEDCL should have done something to recover those dues. "MSEDCL has the necessary infrastructure to recover the dues, but did not use it. Have they ever done any PR activity among the residents asking them to clear the dues?" he asked.
He alleged that MSEDCL has some 10,000 pending applications for new metered connections, but they have failed to provide them.
What is interesting to note here is that rampant power thefts, which rocked Bhiwandi for years, reduced considerably after TPL took charge of power supply in the area.
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