Nitish declares all 39,073 villages in Bihar electrified

Addressing a function organised by the Energy Department, where all the 39,073 villages of the state were declared electrified and foundation stones were laid for power projects worth Rs 3,030.52 crore, Nitish said that bringing electricity to all the villages was not an easy task. It was much more difficult than constructing roads. ” The State Government is confident of achieving the target of providing free power connections to all the households by December 31, 2018,” Nitish said.

The CM said it is a matter of pride for us that the Centre’s ‘Saubhagya’ scheme is inspired by Bihar Government’s ‘Har Ghar Bijli Lagataar’ programme. He added that the turnaround in the power situation in Bihar was achieved through a number of reforms under which the state electricity board underwent a major revamp and a number of government-run power companies were set up. The CM said the government has decided to give a boost to solar power generation and two solar power units would be set up at Pirpainti in Bhagalpur district and Kajra in Lakhisarai.

As regards the complaints regarding inflated power bills, the CM said such complaints have been brought under the purview of the Public Grievance Redressal system. Under this system, two lakh cases have so far been resolved including about 15,000 related to inflated power bills, Nitish said. He said that till 12 years back, small towns and villages had given up all hopes of getting power and even at Patna, the power situation had left much to be desired.