Government today said Uttar Pradesh has formally joined the Centre's 'UDAY' scheme for reviving debt-laden discoms.
"It's a new "SuryaUday" (sunrise) for the 20 crore plus people of Uttar Pradesh as the State joins UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana)," Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet.
"Congratulations to @yadavakhilesh ji, on the State Cabinet approving UP's participation in UDAY," he further tweeted.
"Electrified 39 villages in Odisha last week. From darkness to light," the minister said.
UDAY can help states reduce interest cost, improve operational efficiency and lower cost of power, to ensure power for all, Goyal had said earlier in a statement.
States that have 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 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.
