Chennai, Feb 21 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) has sought state government's directive to link Aadhaar cards for new power connections.

The decision, according to TANGEDCO officers, is to prevent claiming of electricity subsidy by making multiple connections in a single residence.

The officials are expecting the state government to take a policy decision to link the electricity consumer numbers of the consumers with their Aadhaar numbers. Sources in TANGEDCO informed IANS that they had a meeting with the state electricity minister but are yet to get clearance from Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Authority which has an important role in policy decisions concerning electricity in the state.

TANGEDCO officials are of the opinion that if Aadhaar is linked to the electricity numbers, the subsidy claims can be regularised and streamlined. At present, the power generation and distribution corporation is spending around 3500 crore rupees annually on power subsidies.

According to senior officials of the corporation, linking Aadhaar would be easy to identify those with multiple connections for a single residence and enjoying the benefits of subsidy in power. This according to TANGEDCO is like the Union government linking Aadhaar with LPG connections to reduce the subsidy.