Union minister blames Cong of mismanagement of Raj Discoms

Union minister Piyush Goyal today accused the previous Congress government of "utter mismanagement" of Rajasthan Discoms and said it was the BJP that pulled the power distribution companies out of losses.
Our government is committed to providing uninterrupted power supply to the remotest of areas, where transmission losses and theft is less than 15 per cent, Goyal said.
"When the BJP came to power in Rajasthan in 2013, the Discoms were suffering Rs 15,000 crore losses yearly," Goyal said.
The minister lauded the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government for "pulling out" the Discoms from the losses and "mismanagement".
"There has to be a collective effort to achieve 24-hour uninterrupted electricity supply and cheap power. If people pay their bills in time and do not indulge in power theft, then it can be achieved," he said during a video-conference on the Centre's ambitious Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY).

Rajasthan is progressing towards complete rural electrification, and only one village, Dheeya in Udaipur district, needs to be covered under the scheme, the minister said, adding work will be completed very soon.

"Nearly, 22 lakh households in rural areas are yet to get electricity supply, and the work will be completed in the next 18 months," Goyal said.
According to Union Power Ministry data, 426 of the 495 villages in the state have been electrified under DDUGJY -- a Centre-sponsored electrification scheme.
Of the remaining, 68 villages are inhabited whereas work in one village is pending, it said.
Out of the total 90,46,216 households in the state, 21,78,845 are yet to be electrified under the scheme. The process of taking electricity to 69,058 villages is in progress, the data said.