On Thursday, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), staged a demonstration against the hefty electricity bills by the BrihanMumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking.
Earlier, Free Press Journal reported, BEST consumers of the island city had received electricity bills amounting to be as high as five times compared to the regular usage amidst the lockdown period. Apart from domestic consumers, commercial users also claimed to have received inflated bills despite their shops and commercial entities being shut for three months.
Meanwhile, BEST had circulated a disconnection notice to the customers stating, 'We may not, however, disconnect the service immediately to avoid any discomfort to you under the present circumstances. Please ensure payment as early as possible.'
A delegation of the BJP corporators, led by Mumbai chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Colaba Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Rahul Narwekar gheraoed BEST general manager Surendra Kumar Bagde's chamber, demanding him to give a written guarantee that the undertaking will not disconnect the lines of the customers amid this testing times.
"We wanted the GM to give a written declaration that there will be no disconnection. He hesitated. Thus, we continued the protest," BJP leader Mangal Prabhat Lodha told the FPJ.
The delegation continued the sit-in demonstration for six hours, following which Mumbai Police intervened and escorted the GM out of the building, causing a ruckus with the party workers.
"We wanted to take the matter to the assembly. Thus, we urged the GM to give us a guarantee that there will be no disconnection unless the matter is discussed. However, he refused to cooperate," Colaba MLA, Rahul Narwekar told FPJ.
"The Police manhandled our workers badly and forcefully escorted the GM out of the building," Narwekar added
Meanwhile, BEST had stated that there will be no disconnection of lines. "The management has stated that there will be no disconnection of the supplies and the management will follow the revised policy of billing, wherein if it's found that any customer has been over billed, he will be credited that amount upon redressal," stated a senior BEST official.
In a statement, BEST has also stated that for the month of April, May and June, it had issued bills on estimated units as meter reading was stopped. In the July bill, consumers have been billed for the month of July plus the adjustment units of the three months. So, the bills in July appear higher than usual.
