The state of Tamil Nadu has become the 21st state to join the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY). Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, Piyush Goyal presided over the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under the UDAY with the Government of Tamil Nadu and its Discom TANGEDCO, for operational and financial turnaround of the DISCOM in New Delhi. Tamil Nadu would derive an overall net benefit of approximately Rs11,000 crores through UDAY, by way of savings in interest cost, reduction in AT&C and transmission losses, interventions in energy efficiency, coal reforms etc.
The signing ceremony was held in the august presence of the P. Thangamani, Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise, Government of Tamil Nadu. P.K. Pujari, Secretary (Power), Dr. P.V. Ramesh, CMD, REC and senior officials from the Ministry of Power, Government of Tamil Nadu, TANGEDCO and REC were also present at the occasion.
UDAY was launched by the Government of India on 20th November, 2015 to provide a permanent and sustainable solution to the debt-ridden distribution utilities for achieving financial stability and growth, and now has 21 states in the club after Tamil Nadu coming on board. REC is the implementing agency for the scheme.