Nagpur: Chandrashekhar Bawankule, BJP general secretary and former energy minister, has warned the state government against disconnecting power consumers, who have not paid their bills.
Bawankule announced that if Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) staffers tried to disconnect anybody then he or she should contact BJP workers, who would come to their rescue.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Bawankule claimed that MSEDCL had sent disconnection notices to 45 lakh farmers and 30 lakh residential and commercial consumers. “BJP will soon launch a statewide agitation against the tyranny of MSEDCL. The schedule is being chalked out,” he said.
“In my five years as energy minister, I had not disconnected a single farmer. But this government is no better than Mughals. The farmers don’t have money to pay power bills. The government has not compensated them for crop losses. If a farmer is disconnected now, his rabi crop will be destroyed,” said the BJP leader.
On rising fuel prices, Bawankule asked new state Congress president Nana Patole to meet chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and ask him to not levy Rs38 per litre as state tax on petrol.
“Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has taken several unpopular decisions and there is tremendous discontent against it. To divert the attention of the people, leaders like Patole criticize the central government,” said Bawankule.