Now, MSEDCL starts staff bands to appeal for payment of bills

SINGING A DIFFERENT TUNE

Power utility is sending around its musically inclined employees to sing at chowks and raise awareness on its Rs 682 cr in pending dues from 2,50,202 defaulters in Pune city, twin towns

After a long and difficult lockdown, as well as publicly criticised chaos ensuing in its billing systems right thereafter, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) now finds itself in an ironically powerless situation. Having identified as many as 13.86 lakh defaulters in Pune district — including 2,50,202 defaulters in Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad areas alone — who have not paid their electricity bills since April 2020, the power utility is grappling with an outstanding amount of Rs 682 crore owed to it. All efforts to recover the dues have turned futile in the last few months, as disconnection or even blacklisting of customers has seemingly not made much of a difference.

Finally now, instead of continuing with such stringent action, the state-owned power body has decided to adopt an unconventional ‘musical’ way to urge and compel people to pay their pending dues. Under this unexpected initiative, MSEDCL has deployed some of its select employees with musical talent, arming them with instruments and bands. Endowed with sweet voices and the ability to compose ‘snappy’ lyrics on the spot, these musical minstrels of MSEDCL are now performing on roadsides, trying to convince customers to pay the dues to avoid trouble not just for themselves, but also for power body.

The employees in the ‘band’ include senior operators, assistant engineers and deputy engineers, all of whom are standing at different chowks and appealing to people going by to pay their power dues.


Another important part of their awareness building — the bands are also trying to convince the public on how services from power companies like theirs are much more affordable than the looming threat of a private takeover. They are declaring that to avoid privatisation and uncontrolled fares hikes, like in the telecom and satellite TV sectors, the public needs to support them and pay bills on time.

One such enthusiastic musician leading the guard is 46-year-old senior operator Dilip Suryabhan Gaikwad from the Bhosari division of MSEDCL. Every day, after finishing his daily duty, Gaikwad carves out spare time for the additional duty of recovering power bills from defaulters under the new drive. Instead of harsh words and actions, Gaikwad believes in the power of positivity under this initiative and is currently engaged in visiting areas of the twin towns where the maximum number of defaulters have been found. And then begins the performance, appealing to them to pay up via self-composed songs and music, such as the reworked classical Hindi film ditty, ‘Zindagi ek safar hai suhana, bharo bijali ka bill aur tarakki bhi lana’ (Life is a wonderful journey, pay your bill and progress further)’, or another one in Marathi that goes, ‘Light bill bharle, bharle, ayushya samruddhine bharle’ (As soon as you pay the light bill, life will be flooded with prosperity).

Gaikwad shared, “We feel this move is making a difference. We urge customers to pay their dues so that both their connection and the company can sustain! Singing is my hobby and now, I am just doing my duty utilising it. Our team of volunteer musicians includes executive engineer Rahul Gaware, assistant engineer Amit Patil, deputy engineer Umesh Kawade and my friend Kalyan Bhacchaw. We write the lyrics ourselves. Some recorded songs are also used. For now, we are roaming around Akurdi, Bhosari, Chinchwad and Nigdi. From next week, we also plan to visit Shivajinagar, Kothrud and Nagar Road, all of where are housed the most defaulters.”

Elaborating on the concept, MSEDCL chief engineer for Pune circle, Sachin Talewar, said, “We have started taking action against defaulters and especially those consumers who haven’t paid electricity bills from April 2020. Despite repeated reminders, the dues are still awaited. We had also given them the option to pay bills in 12-month instalments, but the response was not good. Now, we have started this additional measure to convince the people as to how important it is to pay the power bills and keep this utility alive, avoiding privatisation. We are hopeful that instead of arm-twisting tactics, this peaceful, musical way to convince people will garner appeal.”

A spokesperson from MSEDCL added, “We are appealing to the public — rates of power bills will go up five times with privatisation. People are free to connect with officials if they feel bills are inflated or irrational, but they must pay the bill for the sake of the company’s survival now.”

As per officials, there are around 36 lakh consumers in Pune district, including 25 lakh in Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad areas.