All Below Poverty Line (BPL) households will be given free electricity connections in Uttar Pradesh. The decision was taken in a meeting between Union power minister Piyush Goyal and UP energy minister Shrikant Sharma on Monday.
However, the Above Poverty Line (APL) families will be given reasonable EMIs and complete financing to get power connections.
“We have to bring an Urja Kranti in UP and we will work together to achieve it,” said Goyal. It was also decided to spread an amnesty scheme to individuals who want to shift to authorized connections.
The meeting was aimed to find ways to lessen power thefts in the state. Notably, the debts for UP state discoms stood at ₹53,000 crore as of January 2016.
Now the smart metering will also be introduced and interest waiver and EMI choices for pending electricity charges will be extended.
“The electricity connections will be given without any discrimination on caste or religious lines and will be based on the latest Socio-Economic Census data,” said a statement from the Union power ministry.
