24 power supply during 'navratras' in key UP districts

The Uttar Pradesh government has directed top officials to ensure a 24-hour electricity supply during 'navratras' in Balrampur and Mirzapur districts which have famous temples of Godess Durga besides Ayodhya, Varanasi, Mathura and Gorakhpur.
The state's Power Minister Srikant Sharma gave this directive to officials in his first meeting after taking charge here.
"During navratras there should be 24 hour power supply in districts having famous Shakti-peeths (temples) like Mirzapur, Balrampur besides in Mathura, Kashi (Varanasi), Ayodhya and Gorakhpur", the minister said.
Significantly, the issue of power supply had become a contentious election issue during the recently held assembly polls.

At an election rally, Prime Minister Modi had accused the previous Samajwadi Party government of playing politics over religious festivals and said that "If their is uninterrupted power supply for Eid, then it should also be the same on Diwali."
In the meeting today, Sharma in a bid to curb corruption directed officials to start "e-tendering" system and preparing a citizen charter for transparency and timely disposing of files.

There would be "zero tolerance" on corruption, Sharma said. He also asked officers to gear up for summers and take care of the overloaded transformers.
State Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi also held meeting with officers and directed them to prepare roadmap for implementation of schemes as per the priorities of the BJP government as mentioned in the party's election manifesto.

The party had promised to waive-off loans of farmers in its first cabinet meeting and the roadmap will take care of this, a senior officer said.