The Union Government has honoured Odisha with the “Outstanding Performance” certificate for efficient and successful implementation of the SAUBHGYA yojana in a record time.

Union Power Minister RK Singh presented the certificate to Energy Secretary Hemant Sharma in the All Power Ministers’ Conference held in New Delhi on Tuesday. Energy Ministers of all the State Governments and Union Territories participated in the two-day conference on Wednesday.

Energy Minister Susant Singh raised several critical issues and urged Ministry of Power to provide support to resolve the issues.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (SAUBHGYA), free electricity connections are provided to both APL and BPL households in rural areas and poor families in urban areas.

In the State, the Cesu implemented the scheme before the stipulated time and created record in the country. The State informed that while 10,11,000 households were electrified, sanctioned funds of Rs 508.63 crore was insufficient for creation of additional infrastructure.

Stating that Rs 850 crore was required for the additional infrastructure, Minister Singh requested the Union Minister to sanction the additional cost. Besides, he noted that, due to implementation of the GST, there was an additional impact of about Rs 215 crore on the project costs.

Singh insisted that the additional GST cost should be shared between the Union Government and State Government.

Raising an important issue, Singh said that under SAUBHGYA, RGGVY and DDUGJY schemes, the number of electrified households exceeded the sanctioned figures in some districts and trailed in some other districts against sanctioned figures.

Hence, inter-district transfer of households needed to be considered in all these schemes, pointed out Singh.