To quell the menace of illegal power connections, the state government will provide free power connection to Below Poverty line (BPl) families in urban and rural areas.
On the 126th birth anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the state and Union governments signed an MOU coined `Power For All’ on Friday. The sceheme aims to provide 24X7 power supply to all categories of consumers in the state by the end of November 2018.
The MOU was also signed for installation of 10,000 solar panels, 10,000 solar irrigation pump sets and distribution of lED lap, tube lights and fans.
Addressing a meeting after signing the MOU with Union government, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, ``The state government will act fast to achieve the MOU objectives and provide electricity to every household in rural and urban areas, farmers small traders and all other categories of power consumers.’’
lashing out at the previous Samajwadi Party regime, the CM said, ``Previously, only 4-5 districts were blessed with uninterrupted 24 hour power supply as per orders of the then Chief Minister. It’s a blot on democracy that some districts were chosen for 24 hour supply on the basis of caste and religion.’’
“The UP government is committed to supplying power to all consumers across the state. As per promise made in the election manifesto (Sankalp Patra), each district headquarter will get 24 hour supply, tehsil headquarters 20 hours and 18 hours for rural areas by November 2018,’’ said Yogi.
“The `katiya’ (illegal power connection) is a big menace in the state. To curb this, the state government will give free power connections to all BPl families. To keep track of power consumption, prevent power theft and ensure safety of consumers, the government will install smart power metres. The cost of metres will be financed by Power Finance Corporation of India and Rural Electricity Corporation,’’ said the Chief Minister.
Yogi attacked the previous SP government for its myopic vision about development and said, ``I launched 150 ambulances on Thursday and funds for this scheme under National Health Mission was given by the Centre . But since 2014, the previous UP government did not seem to be interested in providing facility to the people”
Taking a jibe at his predecessor, Yogi said, “Many people are surprised that I have not ordered massive reshuffle in bureaucracy. The old team which ‘did not use to work’, is still there and performing. It may be due to the crisis of leadership earlier. What was not done in the last 10 years has been done by the present regime in last 20 days.”
Earlier, Union Power minister Piyush Goyal said that by January this year all the states except UP had signed the MOU for ` Power for all’ scheme of the Centre.
``We had been waiting for the response of UP government for the last three years. But they did not seem to be interested. It’s a historic day that the MOU has been signed by UP government after the people of the state gave a historic mandate to the BJP,’’ said Goyal.
The Union minister said that lED bulbs and fans have met a huge response from the people in UP. “On the very first day, 3.5 lakh lED bulbs were sold by 3 pm on Friday and 8 lakh bulbs were likely to be sold by the end of the day. The number of households in UP is estimated to be 4.5 crore and 15-17 crore bulbs are likely to be sold in the state,” Goyal said.