States like Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh are left with small number of un-electrified households and are expected to achieve saturation any time” said RK Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and Renewable Energy on Thursday.
With the present pace of electrification, Nation is expected to achieve 100% saturation in the country by December 31, 2018, the Minister said while speaking to media after the ‘Review, Planning & Monitoring (RPM) Meeting with States and State Power Utilities’ in New Delhi .
“Eight States have achieved 100% saturation in household electrification under Saubhagya namely Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Bihar, J&K, Mizoram, Sikkim, Telangana and West Bengal. Thus total 15 States in the countrynow have 100 % household electrification, he said.
Saubhagya – ‘Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana’ was launched in September, 2017 with the objective to provide access to electricity to all the remaining households in the country.As many as 2.1 crore connections have been released under Saubhagya so far, Singh said.
The Minister further said, “Achievement of 100% household electrification in the country would be a major milestone in the direction to achieve 24x7 power for all. The Government is committed to ensure 24x7 access to electricity for all by March 31, 2019.”
In order to ensure that no un-electrified household is left in the States which have already achieved 100% household electrification, they have been requested to take up campaign to publicize the achievement all across the areas, so that anyone left out for any reasons may avail electricity connection under Saubhagya, he said.
For creating healthy competition amongst various DISCOMs/Power Departments of States, an award scheme has been instituted with awards of more than Rs 300 crore to be won by States/Discoms. The first DISCOM/Power Departments to complete 100% household electrification will be felicitated with cash award of Rs. 50 Lakh for the employees and Rs.100 crore grant to be spent for distribution infrastructure, Singh said.
For the purpose of award, States have been divided into three categories and award would be given in each of these categories, he said.
