Maharashtra whips up 'loony tune' to lure power bill defaulters

Frustrated by its unsuccessful efforts to convince defaulters to cough out their pending power bills the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd MSEDCL has now resorted to a lilting powerpacked strategy to lure the consumers and fill its coffersIn a unique initiative the MSEDCL the states power supplier has launched a Marathi audio song apparently inspired by the immensely popular Sonu songs crooned by Mumbai RJ Malishka Mendonca a few years ago which had rattled the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation BMCThe MSEDCLs new song likens its pet power users as Sonu and lyrically asks Sonu dont you want to pay the electric bills and it has gone viral on social media especially in the rural areas of the stateIt goes on to point out how dear Sonu is a muchrespected figure in his village who flaunts his affluence charges his mobile fills up his vehicle with fuel uses the TV fridge geyser toaster et al without care at homeAnd Sonu is our favourite customer his collars tight he uses all electrical equipment merrily But Sono dont you want to pay the electric bills the song appealsThe singer reminds the customers that the hashtag of progress is light if they pay up the bill it will signal a bright future for the state and countryThe pacy song also weaves in the allurements offered to customers by MSEDCL including discounts instalments and other benefits if they clear up their dues on timeYes we launched the song earlier this week The response has been very good and its having an impact Many customers are now coming forward to clear their electric bills an elated MSEDCL Spokesperson PS Patil told IANSBesides the catchy number the MSEDCL has launched a series of public awareness campaigns across the state including doortodoor campaigns mobile SMSs and social media appeals small gathering in rural areas etc to convince the dodgers cough out outstandingsIn a bolt from the blue from March 1 the MSEDCL with 272crore consumers clamped down on the estimated one crore defaulters including around 44 lakh agriculture users who have allegedly not paid their electricity bills since the past one yearConsequently the MSEDCL has mounted arrears of a whopping Rs70000crore raising concerns on its sustenance and survival as echoed by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Energy Minister Dr Nitin Raut in the pastIgnoring the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party onslaught and celebs sniggers the MSEDCL went hammer and pliers after the bill defaulters and in past 13 days reportedly snapped off the power connections of at least 10lakh consumers comprising domestic commercial industrial agriculture and other sectorsTheres a silver lining finally The consumers Sonu are queuing up We are offering them various incentives to enable them become debtfree Patil saidMaharashtra has over 44 lakh powerguzzling agriculture pumps the highest in the country but 95 percent of them allegedly never paid their electricity bills and to lure them the state launched Maha Krishi Abhiyaan offering them 50 per cent waiver if they cleared full duesFor the first time the agriculturists have started paying their dues and we have collected more than Rs 500 crore in the past one week only Many are clearing their bills at one shot like the Nanded Gurudwara with 28 agriculture pumps which paid Rs 780 lakh at one go Patil saidAs per the directives of Thackeray and Raut the entire amount being recovered from the rural areas will be ploughed back for developing the local power infrastructure with focus on renewable sources since the state is already free of loadshedding and entered the surplus power eraThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever