LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said that his government has brought in “uniformity” in power supply across the state, unlike the previous governments which favoured “only five districts” at the cost of the remaining ones.

He said that when the BJP-led government took over in the state, a major challenge before it was to bring to an end the VIP culture in power supply.

“We have come up with a policy of electricity supply which will uniformly benefit all 75 districts of UP and not just five districts,” he said here at a function where he inaugurated a number of new power sub-stations and dedicated to the public some existing ones upon upgrade.

“We take pride in the fact that on the birth anniversary of Ambedkar last month, we brought in a policy which ensures that all district headquarters will get 24 hours power supply while for tehsil headquarters it will be 20 hours and 18 hours for rural areas,” he said. The firebrand BJP leader did not name any party while speaking about the “VIP culture”.

However, his comments came in the light of allegations faced by the Samajwadi Party and the BSP, which have alternately ruled the state for more than a decade, that native districts of their top leaders used to be disproportionately favoured in power supply.

Adityanath said that his government had inherited a system wherein replacement of faulty transformers used to take months in rural areas and several days in urban localities. “We decided to change that. Now people can lodge complaints regarding the transformer in their locality on a toll-free number and action will be guaranteed within 24 hours,” he said.

The chief minister said that his government was also striving to solve the problem of low voltage in rural areas, which was particularly stark in impoverished regions like Bundelkhand. “Things are looking up and we are confident that by October 2018 we will be able to provide 24 hours’ power supply to every nook and corner of Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

Speaking at the same function, state Power Minister Shrikant Sharma claimed that the government had achieved success in curbing the menace of power theft and upgrade of obsolete transformers. The chief minister is on a two-day visit to the city which will conclude this evening after a meeting with officials, including the chief secretary and the director general of police.

Issues such as law and order and development activities in all districts falling under the Allahabad division would be reviewed. Earlier, in the morning, Adityanath paid a visit to the Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital, accompanied by state Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh, to take stock of the services there.

He also inspected a “malin basti” (slum area) in Nevada locality of the city and gave instructions to officials, in the presence of City Mayor Abhilasha Gupta, with regard to cleanliness and hygiene.