PCL ‘sets’ record with over 10 lakh new connections
LUCKNOW : The UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) on Sunday claimed to have set a record by issuing over 10 lakh new electricity connections in a month under the ongoing Saubhagya scheme that aims to electrify every household in the state by March 2019.
Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd chairman and principal secretary, energy, Alok Kumar said, “We have given 10.12 lakh power connections in September, which is a record considering the fact that in August we gave 6.67 lakh connections and prior to that the average was 3 lakh connections a month.”
“The strict monitoring of the Saubhagya scheme is now giving better results,” he said.
Kumar said a total 3.60 crore power connections were to be given under the scheme in the whole country. In UP, 39 lakh connections had been given so far, which was the highest in the country, he said.
Bihar was in second position with 27 lakh new connections and Madhya Pradesh was third with 19 lakh connections, he added.
Against only 70 lakh valid power connections that the UPPCL could sanction during
IN UP, 39 LAKH CONNECTIONS HAD BEEN GIVEN SO FAR, WHICH WAS THE HIGHEST IN THE COUNTRY, SAID UPPCL CHAIRMAN ALOK KUMAR
the last 70 years, as many as 58 lakh new power connections were released during last one year and a half, Kumar said. He said the Central government had released Rs1,120 crore for creation of power infrastructure under the Saubhagya scheme.
The superintending engineers had been made accountable for the success of the scheme, he said.
Kumar on Saturday held a meeting to review the progress of implementation of Saubhagya in districts and warned of action against the officials concerned and the agencies for slow work in Faizabad, Rae Bareli, Azamgarh, Fatehpur, Deoria, Etah, Etawah, Kannauj, Farukhabad and Kasganj districts.
Kumar has also called a meeting of officials here on October 4 to sort out issues causing shortage of material and also dispatched a team to Bihar to arrange supply of electricity poles from there.