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Review of Power and Urban Development sector in UP by Union Minister

Union Minister of Power and Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal reviewed the urban development schemes and the power sector scenario for State of Uttar Pradesh at Directorate, Urban Local Bodies, in Lucknow today.


Arvind Kumar Sharma, Minister of Energy & Urban Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh and Rakesh Rathore, Minister of State for Urban Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh were present in the meeting. The meeting was also attended by senior officials from the State Government and officials from Govt. of India (GoI) from Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs and Ministry of Power along with officials from UPPCL and REC.

During the meeting, matters related to overall Power Sector scenario and Urban Development programmes and progress of works under Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) in the State of Uttar Pradesh were discussed.

The State highlighted concerns related to Power generation and the possible solutions so as to meet future demand.

Power & Urban Development Minister in his address, thanked Union Minister for his visit to Lucknow for review of state of Uttar Pradesh in respect of issues related to the Power sector and Urban development and also highlighted concerns of the State. Hon’ble Minister elaborated the initiatives taken by the State to ensure reliable supply of power in the State. He highlighted the initiatives taken by the State to provide ease of living to the consumers and the efforts made by the State to improve the financial conditions of the DISCOMs.

Further, it was remarked that the State would make all out efforts for overall improvement in these sectors.

In his address, Manohar Lal, Union Minister of Power and Housing & Urban Affairs welcomed all the dignitaries to the meeting. He mentioned that his visit to the State would help in resolution of issues and in identification of new initiatives that may be taken up to further improve services to the citizens of the State.

He highlighted the role of RDSS in bringing improvement in the electricity distribution sector and in strengthening electricity distribution infrastructure and appreciated the progress made by the State under RDSS. He remarked that the State has taken lot of initiatives and adapted O&M practices which has helped the Distribution Companies in improving their AT&C losses and ACS-ARR gap which would ultimately help in improving the services to the Consumers. He advised to install prepaid meters on all Government consumers by March 2025. Minister advised the state to provide 5% rebate to prepaid consumers.

He further advised State to take up distribution infrastructure works, sanctioned for NOIDA, Varanasi and Kanpur, on priority so that consumers could derive benefit from the works at the earliest.

Minister emphasised that the State should strive to implement Resource Adequacy plan so as to meet growing demand. He directed for a joint meeting with Department of Atomic Energy to discuss on possibility of nuclear projects in the State.  He advised the State to work on rationalisation of linkage of coal sources to thermal plants.

Minister advised the State to shift progressively agricultural load to solar power so as to provide day time supply. He mentioned the need for adoption of best practice in O&M in transmission sector for improving the reliability of supply of power. Hon’ble Minister emphasised the state to effectively implement Rights of Consumers under the Electricity Rules and to provide compensation to consumers for deficiencies in service

Union Minister of Power assured for continued support and cooperation of the Government of India in the overall development of the state and wished for the well being of the people of the state.