Maharashtra: Raj Thackeray petitions governor Koshyari over inflated electricity bills

Inflated bills have caused resentment among residents; MNS has been agitating on the issue for the past few months

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray met Maharshtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to demand a reduction in the inflation of electricity bills being sent to the residents of Mumbai.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray. (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

Speaking to the media, Thackeray said “The governor asked me to talk to [NCP Chief Sharad] Pawar. I will definitely talk or call Pawar and even meet chief minister [Uddhav Thackeray] if needed.”

“The MNS has been agitating about this issue. The power companies say that MERC [Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission] should allow them to lower the bills while MERC says that power companies can do so on their own. In such a case, the state government needs to intervene but is not doing anything. They cannot even take a simple decision,” he alleged.

He questioned how people would pay the unusually high bills. “The person who was paying ₹5,000 is being charged ₹25,000. How can people who suffered a lockdown afford to pay such inflated bills?” he added.

He said since the governor was the head of the state, he had given the first memorandum to him.

Thackeray came down heavily on the state government, accusing it of dragging its feet on taking a decision. “Restaurants have been allowed to reopen but the temples have not. The trains are still not operational and we are seeing such a rush on the roads. It’s time they take decisions and not drag matters,” he added.

The inflated bills given by the power companies have caused large resentment among the people. Raj Thackeray had also written to his cousin and chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in July, asking him to resolve the issue.