U.P. govt. gives out free power connections to the poor

The BJP govt. carried out the programme through 624 camps organised by the Power and Energy Department

July 24, 2017 06:56 pm | Updated 10:41 pm IST - Lucknow

The UP government distributed free power connections to over 58,000 families. Seen here are students studying by the lamplight in Khadapur in Western Uttar Pradesh.

The UP government distributed free power connections to over 58,000 families. Seen here are students studying by the lamplight in Khadapur in Western Uttar Pradesh.

Reaching out to the poor, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Uttar Pradesh government has distributed free power connections to over 58,000 persons from economically weaker sections in the State.

The government carried out the programme through 624 camps organised by the U.P. Power and Energy Department on Sunday.

A total of 86,101 power connections were distributed.

Out of these, 58,596 "free" connections went to persons living in the Below Poverty Line category. Another 27,505 power connections were distributed to persons belonging to the Above Poverty Line (APL) category under the Sugam Sanyojan Scheme. The second category will avail easy installments.

"This is the first time that such a programme was conducted in the State," a government spokesperson said.

U.P. Power and Energy minister Shrikant Sharma said the BPL beneficiaries in urban areas also received free cable and metre connections.

The State selected the beneficiaries by identifying them under the National Food Security Scheme and the Ujjwala Yojana.

Most of the beneficiaries were from the Purvanchal region, with 30, 470 connections, said Principal Secretary, Energy department, Alok Kumar.

Allahabad division had the highest number of beneficiaries with 10,211 connections, while Lucknow had 8,708

Bareilly 7,058, Kanpur 5,974, Mirzapur 5498, Gorakhpur 5434, Moradabad 4,458

Ghaziabad 4,399 and Varanasi 4,038.

The government also distributed 38,249 LED bulbs and 2,577 tubelights, a spokesperson said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.