Gone are the days when electricity connections and uninterrupted supplies were alien things in Uttar Pradesh the largest state in the country. The Yogi Adityanath government has brought some groundbreaking changes in Uttar Pradesh’s electrification and the power generation and distribution sector in the state.

In the last few years, it has been evident that the opposition in the state is pretentiously following the footsteps of the ruling party. Yogi is the chief priest in Gorakshanath Peeth and visiting temples or offering prayers is a part of his daily routine. In an attempt to belittle Yogi’s Hinduness, everybody else is on an electoral temple run. The list starts with Rahul Gandhi – the so-called Janeudhari of Dattatreya gotra – and terminates with Akhilesh Yadav – the self-proclaimed descendent of Lord Krishna.

On a similar note, when Yogi Adityanath and Narendra Modi were inaugurating various development projects completed in the state, Akhilesh Yadav was claiming the credit for kickstarting each one of the projects. Now, obnoxious claims and promises are being made by Samajwadi Party and its CM candidate Akhilesh Yadav, when it comes to the situation of power supplies and electricity bills in the state.

Along with so many things promised for free, the Samajwadi Party has added electricity to the list and the SP is trying to figure out innovative ways to impress the voter with the same. In fact, the party has already started the registration for the promised scheme. However, it is allegedly breaching the guidelines laid down by the election commission of India.

Earlier, when Akhilesh Yadav was the state CM, the government was unable to connect every village of the state with uninterrupted connections. Electricity rates were higher in his tenure as the state CM and the supplies were also irregular. After sitting on the opposition benches for five years, Samajwadi Party is promising free electricity to the people of UP in the run-up of the upcoming assembly elections. On the other hand, the BJP government in the state under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath has won the hearts of the poor and farmers by its phenomenal work in the power generation and distribution sector.

50% relaxation in electricity bills for farmers

In January 2022, Yogi Adityanath’s government announced that there will be a 50% relaxation in energy bills for the farmers using tube wells. No less than 13 lakh farmers are going to be benefitted from this. Energy bills of the farmers residing in the urban areas were also relaxed by 50%. Also, the electricity rates for the metered connections have dropped down from Rs. 2 per unit to Rs. 1 per unit. For horsepower metered connections, the rates have dropped from Rs. 70 per meter to Rs. 35 per meter. Similarly, for non-metered connections, this is reduced from Rs. 170 to Rs. 85. This whole new development in the rates is equivalent to a flat fifty percent off.

The urban users are also benefitted from the electricity policy brought up by Yogi Adityanath. They are now paying Rs. 3 per unit as opposed to the earlier rate of Rs. 6 per unit. The fixed monthly rental charged for the meter is also halved from Rs. 130 to Rs. 65.

On this backdrop, the Samajwadi Party and Aam Aadmi Party promising a minimum of 300 units of electricity per month for every connection is nothing but antilogy considering the past experience. Even if they promise heavens in this regard, people will first ask only if the electricity supplies will be regular in their regime. Right now, in most parts of the UP, there is a 24-hour electricity supply with a nominal power cut time here and there.

Uttar Pradesh’s electrification under the Yogi government is something exceptional

With the Yogi Adityanath government in the state, getting a new electricity connection in UP is easier than ever. With no need to visit many different offices, it now takes very little time to set up a new connection. There is also a single-window system to get the NOC needed for the electrical connection of a small-scale enterprise. This is ensured by the ‘MSME establishment and operations act 2020’. This was passed in September 2020 by the Yogi Adityanath government. Before that MSME had to coordinate with 29 departments in order to obtain 80 different NOCs.

More importantly, Yogi Adityanath is leading from the front. In October 2021, he had given strict instructions to the officers regarding regular power supplies in both urban and rural parts of the state. More focus was given to ensuring an uninterrupted power supply from 6 PM to 7 AM. In those days, there were speculations about coal crunch in the country, but it seldom had any effect on the delivery of what was promised. CM Yogi Adityanath had emphasized that people should get a 24-hour electricity supply, especially in the festive season. Moreover, CM Yogi Adityanath had even suspended the electricity board officials responsible for frequent power cuts if any.

Free power connection to 1.38 Cr households; connecting 1.4 lakh villages with the power grid

Yogi Adityanath government has performed exceptionally well on the fronts of providing new free energy connections and bringing villages on a power grid network. As per the official records, 1.38 Cr households were provided with the free power connection in the four and half years of the Yogi Adityanath government. Rural power supplies and their schedules were ensured by roasters. It was a planned effort to provide 18 to 22 hours of electricity in the rural parts of the state and a 24-hour power supply in the urban parts. More than 1.4 lakh revenue villages and 2.84 lakh other villages are connected to the electricity networks through ‘Saubhagya Yojana’. According to a new rule passed by the state government, the standard transformer repairing time for rural areas is 48 hours while that for the urban area is 24 hours.

Enlightening 1.38 households in itself is a herculean task. These are the same households that were left behind in deep darkness when SP and BSP were ruling the state. UP tops the national chart of highest new connections provided. 7786.3 kilometers of new 33 kV lines are installed in order to ensure zero problems in the transmission and distribution of electricity. Officers are often seen patrolling at night for uncut supplies.

People of UP are happy about the connections, but they are even happier because now they don’t have to face any difficulties in the electrical maintenance works in case of any problems. On 7th July 2021, the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited has supplied 55.2285 crore units of electricity setting up a new record of its own kind. Almost every service regarding electricity is online and just a click away. Yes, this is digital India’s digital UP for you in a nutshell. Poor families in the state have to pay only Rs. 3 per unit for the first 100 units of use.

As UP is the most populated state in the country, naturally the demand is going to be the highest. To cope with the ever-increasing demand, the state government has decided to explore new options of non-conventional energy sources for the generation of electricity. Solar power plants of a total of 1535 megawatt capacity worth Rs 7500 Cr have been approved in the state. India is the founder of the International Solar Alliance. Uttar Pradesh is all set to make a maximum of it and set an example for the country as well as the world. In the last few years, the state has increased its generation capacity by 3978 megawatts out of which 1500megawatts come from the sugar factories, thereby assuring a special discount in the energy bills for the farmers.

Besides, the BJP government in the state has brought a major relief to those who live in their flats in multi-story apartments. According to the new system, there is a provision to connect each flat of the building separately. Earlier, there used to be a single meter for multiple flats in the same building which would often lead to disputes between the society management committees of those buildings and the tenants living in those flats. This whole practice has come to an end now. People living in Ghaziabad and Noida are the special beneficiaries of this new system of multi-point connection in an apartment in which a separate metered connection is provided for every single flat in a building.

Criminals fear the splendid light and thus the reduction in crime rate

There were times in the state when power supplies of only 10 districts would be maintained very well and the rest of the state would dwell in the darkness. Addressing this inequality, the Yogi Adityanath government gave priority to the rural power networks and connections. For the first time, a CM was talking about equal electricity distribution to all the districts of the state. Akhilesh Yadav government had made a few such pacts that would burden the treasury and in turn the common man’s pockets for almost Rs. 5000 Cr. The Yogi Adityanath government cancelled all such deals within the first 100 days of assuming the offices. 60 lakh families which were earlier denied any connections are now given the electricity connection by the state government.

The situation of the Uttar Pradesh power sector is better understood by what Yogi Adityanath had once said after assuming charge of the CM post. He had said “Earlier when I used to travel by helicopter, I would notice the darkness and come to know that the helicopter has entered Uttar Pradesh. In those times, there used to be no electricity and only darkness in the night which would, in turn, invite dacoits. No FIRs would be registered for such dacoits back then.” The Yogi Adityanath government started by providing electricity connections to 100 families in Lucknow. The count has now surged to 1.38 Cr. Complaints, if any, are registered by an SMS.

Earlier, the farmers who were unable to pay the high energy bills would be harassed by the system. Their connections would be cut down. Now the government has ensured that no connection of any poor farmer is cut citing such reasons. On the contrary, farmers are not only getting increased prices for the sugarcane but they are also getting 50% concessions in the energy bills. The government has issued an order not to cut the connections of those farmers who are unable to pay the energy bills. It must be noted that there was an outstanding bill of Rs. 1.67 Cr from Mayawati’s house. It was instructed to be paid only after cutting that connection and the orders were executed.

CM of Uttar Pradesh has proved that it takes a Yogi to enlighten a state like UP which was left behind in deep darkness in the SP-BSP regime.

References:

opindia.com - अनुपम कुमार सिंह