'280 mn Indians don't have power connection'

 Mohali (Punjab), April 12: Around 280 million people in the country do not have basic electricity connection, Minister for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal said on Sunday. “Around 280 million people in India to this day do not have electricity connection at their homes. Till date, they are denied the basic thing like power,” Goyal said while addressing the graduating class of the Indian School of Business (ISB) here. “The country’s problem is not about the amount of power generation or the ability to generate. We have surplus power in large parts of the country,” he added.

“The mission we have set out to achieve is to get power for all by 2019 not by merely slogans but by actioble agenda, by true action on the ground,” the minister said. He said his ministry was focusing on energy efficiency in a big way “On mathematical principles, 1.33 times of every unit of energy is saved given that India has an average 25 percent of AT&C (Aggregate Technical and Commercial) losses even today. So, for every unit saved, I am saving 1.33 unit.”  (IANS)