UP govt announces free electricity for BPL families

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Shrikant Sharma on Thursday said that under the ' Power For All' scheme all the urban Below Poverty Line (BPL) families would get free electricity connection.

"Under the government scheme 'Power for all', urban dwellers below the poverty line shall receive free electricity connections. This falls under the scheme to provide electricity to entire Uttar Pradesh and seems to be another step to curb theft of electricity prevalent in parts of the state," Sharma said, while addressing a press conference in Lucknow.

He also announced a new Nagar Panchayat and said that a new medical insurance service has been initiated.

Earlier, in the month of April, in a big leap towards ensuring regular electricity to all, the Uttar Pradesh Government and the Centre had entered into a pact to provide 24-hour power supply to district headquarters, 20 hours to Tehsil headquarters and 18 hours to all villages in the state.

The 'Power for All' pact was signed in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power Piyush Goyal.

While stressing that his government has 'fulfilled its promise,' Adityanath said the goal was to ensure 24-hour power to all by November 2018, even as Goyal held that continuous electricity supply would help the state in industrialisation and job creation.

The State Government had also vowed to ensure curbing power theft by installing smart meters.