Goyal lauds 'Amma' for supporting UDAY last year

Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal today lauded former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister late J Jayalalithaa for her "ability to grasp intricate subject quickly" and appreciated "Amma" for supporting UDAY scheme during his meeting with her in July last year.

After signing an MoU on Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) Scheme with Tamil Nadu here today, Goyal said, "Experts take a long time to understand the subject, but a 40-minute 'power-packed' meeting with 'Amma' on July 15 last year cannot be forgotten.

"Amma took full interest in the scheme and understood how it is in accordance with the interest of people of Tamil Nadu," he said.

Apart from Goyal, Tamil Nadu Electricity, Prohibition & Excise Minister P Thangamani, TANGEDCO(Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company) Chairman and Managing Directory M Saikumar took part in the event.

The deal is meant for revival of debt stressed discoms, which would help the State save around Rs 11,000 crore during the period of turn around by 2019.

Tamil Nadu, which has become 21st state to join Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) Scheme and its discom TANGEDCO today inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Union Power Ministry for operational and financial turnaround of its utility.

After Tamil Nadu joined the UDAY club, the scheme has covered almost 90 per cent of total utilities' debt of around Rs 4 lakh crore.

Tamil Nadu would derive an overall net benefit of about Rs 11,000 crore through UDAY, by way of savings in interest cost, reduction in AT&C and transmission losses, interventions in energy efficiency, coal reforms, etc, a Power Ministry statement said.

By signing the MoU under UDAY, the state is taking over 75 per cent of debt of Rs 30,420 crores of TANGEDCO. The scheme also provides for the balance debt to be re-priced or issued as State guaranteed Discom bonds, at coupon rates around 3-4 per cent less than the average existing interest rate.