Lucknow, June 12: Accusing the Congress-led government at the Centre for existing power crisis in the state, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today said the state was not getting its genuine share of electricity from the central pool.
“The state is not getting its genuine share of power from the central sector, as against total availability of 1,399 MW power in the central pool, only 328.2 MW had been allocated to UP, which is only 23 per cent. This has resulted in power crisis in the state,” Mayawati said during a high-level review meeting here.
The chief minister said that allocation of power should be done on the basis of population.
“Total population of UP is around 16.6 crore, which is 54 per cent of the total population of northern states. Thus on the basis of the population at least 54 per cent quota should be allocated to the state,” she demanded.
Mayawati alleged that due to lower allocation, the state government was being forced to purchase electricity at a rate of as high as Rs 8 per unit.
“Despite having limited financial resources, the government is committed to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the people of the state,” she said.
The chief minister said that for integrated development of the state a special package of Rs 80,000 crore was demanded from the central government.
—Agencies