Akhilesh accuses Centre of discrimination against UP

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav Wednesday accused the union government of discrimination in power allocation to the state from the central pool. He added that the central government was also not providing enough coal as per the requirements of power plants in the state.

Other than this, he pointed out, providing coal for new power projects was also being delayed. He requested the union government to effectively deal with the problems related to power projects in the state.

Yadav said that the state has been making sustained requests at the level of prime minister and the minister of state for coal to solve the problems and requirements of the power sector in the state and a meeting by the union coal minister was proposed a few days back.

The chief minister said that the union minister did not come for the meeting but some deliberations took place between the state government power officials and their counterparts in Delhi.

He informed that very soon he will go to New Delhi and meet the union power minister. The chief minister underlined that by population, Uttar Pradesh was the biggest state in the country and for this reason it should get maximum power from the central pool.

Other states neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, he pointed out, were being allotted more electricity.

He cited the example of Delhi, which has been allocated 70 percent of the 5788 MW central pool for Uttar Pradesh though the population of Delhi is less than even half of UP.

Surplus power is sold by states who have more electricity than required.

The chief minister added that the time had come to rethink the guidelines for allocation of power by the centre from its pool.

Akhilesh said that coal is allocated by the centre for the thermal power plants in the state but power plants are suffering owing to non-supply of coal as per requirements. Because of this, while the people of the state are suffering, the development of the state is also facing hurdles.

The chief minister also requested the union government to provide long term coal linkages as soon as possible for the new power plants being established in the state so that they can be completed in time and the people of the state are rid of their power problems.

-- Indo-Asian News Service

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