Journalism of Courage
Protesting against the power tariff hike that came into effect from September,activists of 10 organisations along with several residents staged a demonstration burning electricity bills outside the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) office in Rasta Peth on Friday.
Vivek Velankar of Sajag Grahak Manch,Pratap Hogade of Electricity Consumers and Industrial Organisations coordination committee and representatives of PMP Pravasi Manch,Legal Aid Society,National Society for Clean Cities,Aundh Vikas Mandal,Lokahit Foundation,Alliance for Peoples Movement,Aam Aadmi Party,Nav Bharat Democratic Party and Shiv Sena participated in the demonstration.
The order of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) in September to recover
Rs 3,685.51 crore from consumers has upset them as they have been forced to pay an average Rs 1.25 for every unit of extra consumption. The rate of electricity be it for the domestic or industrial consumers has shot up by 25 per cent .
Velankar said the rate of electricity per unit has gone up by Rs 1.50 owing to MSEDCLs inefficiency in generating power.
Hogade said they will submit a memorandum of demands to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. The electricity rates in neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka,Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh are reasonable as against Maharashtra,which has inflated the cost of electricity. Corruption is the reason for such a hike and why should the consumer bear the brunt, he added.
The activists want the state government to put a stay on power tariff hike with immediate effect and set up an inquiry committee to find out the reason leading to 25 per cent hike. When private players are ready to offer power at reasonable rates than MSEDCL,we should have a choice to avail it from them. Or else MSEDCL should rollback its decision on power tariff hike , the activists demanded.
