Though the State Government is claiming that it has achieved a power-surplus status for the State, Odisha is 6th among the mainstream States that fail to provide 24-hour electricity. In this respect, as many as nearly 48,000 villages are affected. Even, Odisha has fared poorer than north-eastern States like Manipur and Meghalaya.
However, the dubious list is led by BJP-ruled State Haryana, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh followed by Congress-ruled Karnataka, Nitish Kumar-led Bihar. In contrast, Chhattisgarh has a better track record as it provides 23-hour electricity to its rural areas vis-a-vis of around 21 hours a day in rural areas in Odisha.
In the above context, data with the Gridco reveal very interesting details. The data show that in financial year 2016-17, Odisha showed only a 2- million unit (MU) energy deficit and the peak hour supply has no deficit, which is the lowest in the eastern region including West Bengal. However, if 24-hour power supply is taken into account, West Bengal supplied round-the-clock electricity to its rural areas as per the latest data available till June 2017.
Moreover, as per the data available with the Odisha Energy Department, in 2015-16 while the domestic consumers were supplied energy worth around 6,221MU, power supplied to industrial users was pegged at over 6,050MU whereas farmers could avail a mere 266-MU energy, which is the lowest among the mainstream States.
Notably, Odisha’s power generation has increased over the years. Data show the gross generation in the State increased to 8,349 MU in 2016-17 from 8,028 MU in 2015-16, besides drawing over 7,500 MU on an average every year from Central power stations. Despite the increased generation, Odisha has failed in providing 24-hour electricity to its rural areas.
The bottom line is: Power play in Odisha is quite poor when nearly 434 villages are yet to be electrified and over 40 lakh households have no access to power, and power used in farming is the lowest among mainstream States, indicating the need of ramping up more power generation to meet the demand of 24X7 electricity for all by 2022.
Also, in rural electrification, Odisha failed to achieve the target of electrification in 2016-17 as against the target of 1,586 villages, the achievement was only 1,092.
Moreover, against a target of providing free electrification under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (for BPl families) to around 60,524 villages, the achievement in 2016-17 was only around 42,000, which looks pale when compared to West Bengal’s record of achieving over 26,857 villages against a target of 8,152 villages in 2016-17.