Government denies Centre’s charge on UDAY scheme

Chennai

In a joint statement, Electricity Minister Natham R Viswanathan and Rural Development Minister S P Velumani said the government did not sign the pact because there were several shortcomings in the  scheme. They said the Central government was aiming to provide 24-hours electricity and reduce the loss.

But at a recent press conference, Union minister Prakash Javadekar had said that the State government was not interested in taking the benefits to honest consumers in Tamil Nadu and wanted to favour the dishonest who steal power.

"By uttering such words, did the minister mean that farmers and those living in huts were stealing power," they asked. Elaborating about power connections, the ministers said apart from farmers and slum-dwellers all power connections were properly metered and noted down in the Electricity Board (EB) card.

Pointing out to the drawbacks in the scheme, the ministers said the UDAY scheme was aimed at reducing the losses to 15 per cent by 2018-19. They charged that the Centre had neither provided infrastructure nor a single rupee to the cause. But Tamil Nadu has been taking several steps to reduce losses.