In a surprising turn of events, Ravi Raja on Tuesday, July 21, moved a ‘no confidence’ motion against Surendrakumar Bagde, BEST general manager, demanding his removal.
Ravi Raja was further supported by NCP group leader Rakhi Jadhav, Samajwadi Party group leader Rais Sheikh and Javed Juneja, standing committee member, all of whom signed a petition of no-confidence motion which was further given to Kishori Pednekar, the Mayor of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
According to sources, Raja alleged that Bagde refused to meet public representatives who wanted to discuss the grievances of the people in Mumbai regarding the power bills. Furthermore, Raja alleged that Bagde denied any communication with him regarding the safety of the BEST workers adding that the BEST General Manager cannot refuse to take appointments with other councillors given that he is the public servant of the state.
Meanwhile, Kishori Pednekar, in a statement to the media has said that a decision will be made regarding the next meeting which will have a discussion in light of the motion made by Ravi Raja.
In the past, several consumers of Tata Power, Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited (AEML), the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking, and the State-run Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Corporation Limited (MSEDCL), took to social media demanding an answer for the exorbitant power bills. In some cases, the bills were for more than ₹10,000. The city of Mumbai has nearly 32 lakh residential power consumers and around eight lakh commercial consumers.
However, the power companies have responded stating that the high electricity bills are a result of the power utilities finally being able to read the meter in the month of June after over two months. Meter readings had been discontinued since March 22, according to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) directive. Instead, during the lockdown, the people were billed based on their average consumption of December, January and February.
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