Chennai: Having opposed Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (Uday) tooth and nail, Tamil Nadu will on Monday formally join the scheme after the Union Government conceding all the demands set by the state except relaxation of FRBM norms.
The signing ceremony will take place in New Delhi on Monday in the presence of Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Tamil Nadu electricity minister P. Thangamani.
"Piyush Goyal, power minister, will preside over the signing of MoU for Uday with the government of Tamil Nadu and Tangedco at Friendship Lounge, 3rd Floor, Hotel Ashok, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi,on Monday, 9th January, 2017 at 3:00 pm," an official invitation from the Press Information Bureau said.
Late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's stringent opposition to the scheme and her refusal to meet Goyal prompted him to call her "inaccessible" stoked a huge political controversy in early 2016. But Goyal was forced to make amends immediately after the Assembly elections were over when he flew down to Chennai to meet Jayalalithaa in mid-July during which the TN government agreed to look into joining the scheme by constituting a committee. After much deliberation, the TN Government decided to join the UdAY scheme on October 21 when Jayalalithaa was at Apollo Hospital.
During the October 21 meeting, the Centre agreed to do away with condition of the quarterly revision of power tariff, while the state wanted the centre to relax FRBM norms for the entire bond tenure of 15 years. The Centre agreed to all the conditions except for relaxing FRBM norms.
By joining the scheme, the state will have to bear 75 per cent of the debt of the Tangedco as on September 30, 2015. Since the scheme pertains to distribution companies, the debt component for distribution comes to Rs 43,540 crore out of Rs 81,782 crore. The state’s commitment will be Rs 32,655 crore. The overall debt of the Tangedco includes Rs 6,223 crore from the state government.
