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Delhi's electricity distribution utilities claim that both the Delhi State and the Centre have not shown enough resolve to help the National Capital get the benefits of the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme.
UDAY is a Central scheme for the financial revival of State electricity distribution utilities. However, joining this scheme is voluntary on the part of State governments.
“If there really was constructive politics between the ruling parties in Delhi and the Centre, then they could have easily sat down and tried to find a solution. It has happened with Bihar, it has happened with Uttar Pradesh, but for Delhi no meeting has taken place so far,” a senior official at one of Delhi’s three electricity distribution utilities said.
The combined debt of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd and Anil Ambani Group owned BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna stands at ₹20,000 crore. According to sources, joining UDAY could have reduced the discoms’ annual interest costs alone by around ₹1,000 crore.
Under UDAY, state governments take over 75 per cent of the debt at the distribution utilities while the rest is issued as state-government backed bonds by the distribution utilities.
“It is in the interest of the consumer for the Delhi government to join the UDAY scheme.
“The discoms have already taken up the matter with the State government,” Praveer Sinha, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Tata Power Delhi Distribution, told BusinessLine while declining to comment on whether the Centre could have done more.
Project delay Meanwhile, the electricity distribution utilities have also raised concerns over the delays in completion of projects by Delhi Transco Ltd, the State government’s transmission utility.
Last week, Tata Power Delhi Distribution wrote to Delhi Transco flagging off the delay in five key transmission projects.
For four of these projects even a revised completion date has not yet been submitted.
The distribution utility has sought the completion of these projects at the earliest or risk widespread load-shedding in parts of Delhi during the summer months.
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