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Punjab, J&K, Himachal & Uttarakhand join UDAY scheme

India Coal Market Watch

 December 10: After Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan, another four states have joined the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY). Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), Himachal Pradesh, & Uttarakhand have communicated their in-principle approval to the Ministry of Power (MoP) to join the scheme.

 Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister of State for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, congratulated those states, saying he was confident that other states would follow the trend soon.

The scheme is optional and gets operationalised by signing a pact between states, state discoms and the Centre. UDAY is supposed to ensure 24x7 adequate power supply. It was launched to improve financial and operational efficiencies of power distribution companies (discoms). It aims to reduce the interest burden, cost of power and AT&C losses.