Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said that the state government was committed to providing quality power to its consumers but for holistic improvement in power sector, the state and the Centre should work as a team.
“For better integrated planning in power sector, co-ordination between the state and the Centre is a must. If the two can work in tandem, then transformation could be achieved in no time,” Yadav said in his speech during Power Minister’s conference held at Goa on Thursday.
Yadav holds the Power portfolio but his speech was read out in the meeting by Minister of State for Power, Shailendra Yadav lallai.
“The progress made by Uttar Pradesh in the last four years in power sector has been tremendous. There is 30-40 per cent increase in distribution and transmission sectors. Till 2013, UP used to generate 8500 MW of electricity which has gone up to 15000 MW and by October, 2016, it will reach 17000 MW,” the UP minister quoting the CM said in the seminar.
He said that the state government has spent Rs 22000 crore to set up four sub-stations of 765 kv, 17 sub-station of 400 kv, 37 sub-stations of 220 kv and 74 new sub-stations for 132 kv. This has been done to improve transmission and distribution of power so that consumers can get quality electricity 24x7.
The minister read in detail about strengthening power networking at the Tehsil level and how the state government has started a campaign to electrify villages.
“UP’s progress has been the best in the country. The Government of India says the progress is 83.5 per cent while in Bihar it is 63.8 per cent. By the end of this fiscal (2016-17) over 1,40,000 hamlets would be electrified,” he said.
He also spoke about Government’s initiative in strengthening DISCOMs but rued the decision of Coal India to increase coal price by Rs 170 per metric tonne which impacted power generation in a big way.
“Majority of the state run thermal power generation units are in the red. The government has decided to increase coal linkage of those thermal power units set up after 2009 from existing 65 per cent to 100 per cent. We have also advocated 100 per coal linkage for private companies like Bajaj, lanco and Jai Prakash,” he said.
The minister also demanded UP’s share in Vindyachal Thermal Power project. “Electricity generated in this project is cheap. If power is allotted from this scheme to UP, the state will be able to tide over the crisis,” he said adding that all the major cities will get 24x7 quality power while rural areas will get power for 16-20 hours from October this year.