Varanasi: Union power minister Piyush Goyal said here on Tuesday that cities with low line-loss will start getting 24-hour power supply on priority basis. Talking to reporters while inspecting progress in Integrated Power Development Schemes and Clean India Campaign here on Tuesday, Goyal said there is a line loss of 40% to 45% in UP and power pilferage is the major reason for it. The Centre and the state government have intensified efforts to put a check on line loss. Places with low line-losses would start getting round-the-clock uninterrupted power supply. Goyal urged people to give information about power pilferage and other complaints on toll free number 1912.Earlier, Goyal visited the localities where the work of laying underground cables under IPDS was in progress. The minister sought reason from the district administration and Varanasi Municipal Corporation for delay caused in repairing of roads after completion of cable lying task. He said that the Union government has fixed December 2017 as the deadline for the completion of IPDS to make the holy city free from overhead cables.Later, he reached the ghats to review the progress in riverfront development and sanitation work under Clean India Campaign. Regarding cleaning of Ganga under Namami Gange project, he alleged that non-BJP governments in past left this project lingering. The scene has changed now and the progress in the projects is taking place with accelerated pace. Union water resource minister Uma Bharati and chief minister Aditya Nath Yogi have held a meeting in Lucknow recently to discuss the projects only.He said that three companies are contributing in solid waste lifting. He claimed that work on four-lane Varanasi-Sultanpur, Varanasi-Azamgarh, Varanasi-Ghazipur and six-lane Varanasi-Aurangabad highways have been intensified with the completion of the process of land acquisition.The minister also held a review meeting with officials.

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