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Discrimination on religious ground in electrification in UP: Piyush Goyal
Minister of state (independent charge) for power, coal, new and renewable energy and mines Piyush Goyal accused the UP government of partiality on the ground of religion on the issue of electrification and power supply in the state.
“In its probe report, a high power committee pointed out that discrimination on religious ground was found in implementation of Deen Dayal Gram Jyoti Yojna in eight village of Moradabad,” said Goyal while talking to reporters here on Tuesday.
He said that on the complaint of Moradabad MP a high level committee was constituted, which visited eight villages of the district on July 22, 2016. “Many other MPs also contacted me with similar complaints that the areas populated with particular caste and religion are facilitated with power supply and electrification,” he said adding that it is a very serious matter showing the biased temperament of the state government. However, the UP government in its written reply said that no discrimination is done in providing power connection, he added.
“The chief minister claims that there is 24-hour power supply in the state. Fact surfaced with the outcome of a survey conducted by an NGO one week before and after the polling in different areas. It was found the power supply was normal before the polling, but after the polling frequent power cuts were noticed,” said Goyal adding that the Akhilesh government is not serious about state’s development, which is evident of the fact that state did not sign the ‘power for all’ agreement. “UP is the only state in the country that did not sign the ‘power for all 124×7’ agreement, which aims at providing uninterrupted power supply to all by August 2022,” he said.
He further state that the UP also refused to purchase power from the centre at cheap rate saying that it has surplus electricity. “Against the target of giving 32,33,913 power connections during the 12 Five Year Plan, the state could give only 5.26 lakh connections, which is 16% of the target,” he said adding that it shows that the UP government wants to keep people deprived of electricity. “To hide the fact the state also stopped providing data of power supply since August 2016,” he alleged. Justin Williams Jersey
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