All inhabited census villages were electrified : R K Singh

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : All the inhabited census villages were electrified as on April 28, 2018. Further, all the States reported electrification of all households, as on March 31, 2019, except few households in LWE affected Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.    Electricity is a concurrent subject and as such providing electricity connection to households falls under the purview of State Governments / Power Utility.  All the States/UTs have entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of India for providing 24 x 7 power supply to all households, industrial, and commercial consumers from April, 2019 and adequate supply of power to agricultural consumers as per State policy.

The Government of India supplement the efforts of the States through its various schemes including Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana- Saubhagya and Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY).

Substantial progress has been made under DDUGJY & Saubhagya schemes towards creation of electricity infrastructure and providing electricity connections to households. Under these schemes, funds are released for sanctioned projects in instalments based on the reported utilisation of amount of the previous instalment(s) and fulfilment of stipulated conditionality’s.  So far Rs 45,174.89 crore have been released under various projects of DDUGJY and States have reported 69% overall progress.  As reported by the States, all the inhabited un-electrified census villages were electrified on April 28, 2018 across the country.

Further, to achieve universal household electrification by providing last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all households in rural and all poor households in urban areas across the country, the  Government of India launched Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – “Saubhagya” in October, 2017.  All the States reported electrification of all households on Saubhagya portal, as on March 31, 2019, except few households in the LWE affected Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.  Since launch of the scheme, 2.628 crore households were electrified up to March 31, 2019, across the country.

This information was provided by Minister of State (IC) Power, New & Renewable Energy and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship R K Singh in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on December 5, 2019, according to a PIB release.