Speed Post News Network
New Delhi: One hundred fiftytwo villages were electrified across the country from June 27 to July 3, 2016, under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna (DDUGJY). Out of these electrified villages, three villages are in Arunachal Pradesh , 49 in Assam, 54 in Meghalaya ,22 in Jharkhand, three in Rajasthan, six in Madhya Pradesh, 10 in Odisha, four in Bihar and one in Chhattisgarh.
In view of PM Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on Independence Day, the Government of India has decided to electrify remaining 18,452 unelectrified villages by May 1, 2018. The project has been taken on mission mode and strategy for electrification consists of squeezing the implementation schedule to 12 months and also dividing village electrification process in 12 stage milestones with defined timelines for monitoring, according to Union Power ministry sources.
Altogether 8,681 villages have been electrified till date. Out of remaining 9,771 villages, 479 villages are uninhabitated while 6,241 villages are to be electrified through grid, 2,727 villages through off-grid where grid solutions are out of reach due to geographical barriers and 324 villages are to be electrified by the respective state government. According to an official release, 1,654 villages were electrified from April 2015 to August 14, 2015 and after an initiative taken by Government of India for taking it on mission mode, 7,027 additional villages were electrified from August 15, 2015, to July 3, 2016. In order to expedite the progress, a close monitoring is being done through Gram Vidyut Abhiyanta (GVA) and various actions are also being taken on regular basis like reviewing the progress on monthly.