The below poverty line households in the urban and rural areas of Uttar Pradesh will henceforth get free power connection and those above the poverty line will get the 100 per cent financing option with easy EMIs.
The decision was taken during a meeting between Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Uttar Pradesh Energy Minister Shrikant Sharma on 27 March 2017.
Free power connection will be provided to urban and rural and below poverty line households and to the above poverty line households at reasonable EMIs.
The connections will be provided solely on the basis of the latest socio-economic census data, without discriminating on caste or religious lines.
Aside from this, an amnesty scheme would be provided to all the households and commercial connections that wish to take legal electricity connections.
The state would also run a state-wide campaign against power theft along with a drive to sensitise all the stakeholders to bring honesty into the sector by shunning corruption.
There would also be transparent monitoring to prevent harassment to the consumers at the hands of field officers.
A state power official will also be placed at each industrial feeder level to monitor the consumption, billing and collection and also to ensure the flow of 24 hrs reliable quality power to the industry.
Further, the Power Minister has directed the officials of the power ministry to conduct a weekly ground level review of the progress of the projects being implemented in the state along with the state power department officers in Lucknow.
The Minister also directed the state power officials to come up with a strategy to replace all the old thermal power plants in the state with Super Critical Power Plants.
It will also aim to engage in 100 per cent coal linkage swap in order to bring down the power costs for the common man.
