Jaya hits back at Karuna, Union Ministers over UDAY scheme

Hitting back at Union Ministers and DMK chief M Karunanidhi for flaying her regime on the central scheme UDAY, AIADMK supremo and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today said it will benefit only private power generating companies and banks but not people of her state.

Addressing a rally here to canvas votes for her party nominees for the May 16 assembly polls, she said although private players had the capability to produce adequate electricity, power cuts still persisted in many states as government power generation corporations were making loss.

As a result they could neither repay bank loans nor could purchase power even as private firms were also unable to repay debts as they could not function in full steam, she said in her first election rally outside Chennai after launching the campaign on Saturday last.

"Therefore, there is a situation of banks declaring these (loans) as Non-Performing Assets. This scheme (UDAY) was devised on the basis of state governments sharing the debt burden of discoms so that they can once again get bank loans.

"That is why, this scheme will be beneficial to private firms and banks, but will only affect Tamil Nadu government and its people," she said.

The Chief Minister was responding to criticism by Union Ministers for Power and Environment, Piyush Goyal and Prakash Javadekar, respectively, for not adopting Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY).

Her arch rival Karunanidhi had also sought her response on the matter.

Jayalalithaa said though the state government could float Financial Bonds to mop up funds, FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) guidelines in this regard could be "relaxed" only for two years, which she said, would make it impossible to get bank loans from the successive year.

"As a result no development schemes can be implemented. Therefore, I had stated that the FRBM relaxation including repayment should be extended to 15 years, and that Centre should subsidise a part of the debt burden of discoms accepted by the state government," she said.

Further, quarterly revision of power tariff under UDAY was "unacceptable," she said.

On Karunanidhi seeking her response to Javadekar's charge that the state was protecting those pilfering power, she said he had got the Union Minister wrong.

Javadekar had said there was loss due to lack of power meters, she said adding, that it was wrong to say there was pilferage since only agricultural pump sets and huts lacked meters.

"If Karunanidhi doesn't accept this, he has to explain whether he is charging the farmers and those living in huts with pilfering electricity," she said.