Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls: The power-centric promises and their perils

Lucknow district has nearly 3.8 million voters in the total population of more than 5.7 million

The UP exchequer will incur an annual financial burden of more than Rs 12,000 crore if the parties carry through on the power-centric promises they have made, according to energy sector experts.

“It is not financially or technically feasible to fulfil the promises held out by different parties. In fact, people realise these are just election lollipops and even if they were to be fulfilled, the government of the day will divert funds from other heads,” UP power consumer activist Avadhesh Kumar Verma said.

However, the cut and thrust of electioneering in progress outshouts all realistic thinking. The Sahara Shahar township, which