Government today said Haryana has formally joined the Centre's 'UDAY' scheme for reviving debt- laden discoms, becoming the eleventh state to join the scheme.
"Congratulations to Hon'ble CM Shri Manohar Lal Khattar @mlkhattar on Haryana joining UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana)," Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted.
Goyal had earlier said that with the number of states in UDAY reaching double digits, "...We are progressing towards realising Hon'ble PM @Narendramodi's vision of 24X7 power."
He had said with UDAY, states can reduce interest cost, improve operational efficiency and lower cost of power, to ensure power for all.
Other states that communicated their in-principle approval to the Power Ministry for joining the UDAY scheme includes Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.
The minister had earlier tweeted that all states have expressed strong interest for joining 'UDAY' "and are at various stages of getting internal approvals."
"We remain confident of all the States joining UDAY and together creating an Ujwal Bharat," he had said in a tweet earlier.
The scheme is optional and gets operationalised by signing a pact between states, state discoms and the Centre.
UDAY aims at reviving ailing state electricity boards and operational efficiencies of power distribution companies. It envisages on reducing interest burden, cost of power and AT&C losses.
Consequently, the discoms will become sustainable to provide adequate and reliable power enabling 24x7 power supply. The scheme provides that states would take over 75 per cent debt of discoms, as on September 30 in two years.
