Worried industrialists fail to get audience with CM

Verma said the provision of minimum charges leads to inefficiency on part of the power suppliers as they get a fixed amount of money even if they do not supply sufficient electricity to the industries.

Several IIA delegations have met Minister of State for Small Scale Industries Bhagwat Sharan Gangwar, Minister of State for Protocol Abhishek Misra. The association has also written letters to the chief minister office, but are still waiting for an appointment.

Chaturvedi said they want to meet the CM as he is the Minister for Power and Industry and, therefore, the right person with whom they can discuss their problems. He said Gangwar expressed his inability to sort out their problems and said he would forward their request to the CM.

According to IIA, following the recent hike in the tariff, power for UP's small and medium industries (LMV-6) has become 43.60 per cent costlier as compared to Uttarakhand, 43.40 per cent costlier than Chhattisgarh, 29.67 per cent costlier than Gujarat, 28.10 per cent costlier than Andhra Pradesh, 26.65 per cent costlier than Jharkhand, 23.4 per cent costlier than Rajasthan, 17.8 per cent costlier than Haryana, 15.5 per cent costlier than Bihar and 7.75 per cent costlier than Punjab.

Chaturvedi said opposition leaders, including Rajnath Singh and Kalraj Mishra of the BJP, have written to the CM, requesting him to meet the association members, but there has been no response.

"We were very enthusiastic when Akhilesh took over. We wanted to discuss several things for industries with him, including an annual event for micro, small and medium enterprises in the state, but there was no response to our letters," said Verma.

Chaturvedi said it is not only the power hike they want to discuss with the CM, but they also want to tell him to improve the functioning of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited(UPPCL), which has pending bills of more than Rs 27,000 crore, is providing electricity without meters and its expenses are not audited.

... contd.

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