Nagla Fatela row: UP discom to soon reply to Centre's notice

Amid row over electrification of Nagla Fattela village in Uttar Pradesh, state discom Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd today said it will soon send reply to the showcause notice of central PSU Rural Electrical Corporation.
"The reply will be sent soon," a senior official of Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam (DVVNL) said here today.
Rural Electrical Corporation, which comes under Union Power Ministry, has sought clarification from DVVNL on reports about no connection having been given to households (of the village), though the discom in October 2015 certified the village as electrified after laying of infrastructure using central funds.
While talking about his government's achievement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech claimed of huge success in bringing electricity to more villages and cited example of Nagla Fatela, three hours from Delhi, getting electricity after more than 70 years.

Countering the Prime Minister's claim, Uttar Pradesh government, however, said the village had already been electrified in 1985. However, some reports suggested that the village is yet to get fully-electrified.
Also, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal yesterday made public documents to show the Prime Minister's electrification claim for Nagla Fatela village was based on information from the state and alleged that the government there was hiding its own "inefficiencies by blaming the Centre."

Goyal said if the village in Hathras district was electrified way back in 1985, how come the village was in a series of reports from the state dating up to November 2013 identified among unelectrified ones and proposed to be provided with power using central fund.

A letter was sent by Managing Director of DVVNL to central government nodal agency REC for inclusion of Hathras in the Rural Electrification Scheme. Nagla Fatela was shown as unelectrified village with zero households electrified, he said.
Modi had said that "out of 18,000 unelectrified villages, more than 10,000 villages have been electrified (during NDA regime). The village of Nagla Fatela is only three hours from Delhi, but it took more than 70 years for it to get electricity. I have been told they are with us, watching this celebration of Independence Day."
The notice sent by REC to DVVNL sought explanation on media reports that quoted chief engineer VS Gangwar as saying that the village was electrified many years ago, but only through "katia" (illegal) connections.