Shivraj Singh Chouhan asks officials to rope in youngsters for collecting electricity dues in Madhya Pradesh

Chouhan insisted that citizens should be involved in the activities of the electricity department to prevent power theft and ensure maintenance

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has suggested that youngsters in the state be roped in to collect electricity dues from people in exchange for some honorarium, an official said on Thursday.

The chief minister made the suggestion while reviewing the energy department's performance in the presence of state energy minister Pradyumna Singh Tomar and principal secretary of the department Sanjay Dube, among other officials, on Wednesday, the official said.

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According to official sources, Chouhan said the responsibility of collecting power bill payments can be handed over to groups of youngsters in some districts as a model, on the basis of each transformer. He further directed the power companies to give quality services to people and make full recovery from them.

People engaging in power thefts and stealing electricity wires should be punished immediately and department officials should keep an eye on such elements, the chief minister instructed. He also took a serious note of the maintenance issues, especially interruptions in power supply, changing of transformers and tripping of electricity, and said that any negligence on these issues will not be tolerated, the official said.

The chief minister insisted that citizens should be involved in the activities of the electricity department to prevent power theft and ensure maintenance of transformers by raising awareness.