The State Government has decided to form District Electricity Committees (DECs) soon to monitor quality and progress of work under various Central schemes like the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS). Energy Minister Pranab Prakash Das has asked the district Collectors to form the committees by the end of this month. The Union Energy Ministry had issued direction in this regard.The proposed committee would be headed by the senior most MP of the concerned district with the district Collector and another MP would be the convener and deputy director, respectively.

local MPs and MlAs and PSU officials would be members of the committee.According to Central guidelines, each committee would meet at least once every three months and would be consulted in preparation of DPRs of the DDUGJY and IPDS. “The committee will be responsible for monitoring the government schemes and reviewing power supply, consumer satisfaction and promoting energy efficiency and energy conservation in the localities,” said the letter issued by the Centre to the State Energy Secretary.It may be mentioned that the Centre had launched IPDS project in December last year to enhance the electricity network in urban areas and strengthen sub-transmission and distribution system, including metering of distribution transformers, provisioning solar panels, feeders and consumers in urban areas. The DDUGJY, which was in operation earlier, focuses on strengthening rural electrification.