The progress of Saubhagya Yojana and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay rural electrification scheme’, the flagship programmes of Narendra Modi Government in Power sector was reviewed by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat at State secretariat on Monday.
In the meeting, the CM was told that under the Saubhagya Yojana, a target of connecting 317595 households with electrification has been taken and for it a DPR of Rs 172.44 Crore has been submitted to the Central Government. He was informed that about 55000 households so far have been given electricity connections. The CM directed the officials to set weekly and monthly targets of electrification and complete the remaining work soon.
The officials further informed that the electrification of all the proposed 94 revenue villages under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Rural Electrification scheme is complete while the electrification of 4758 Toks (small habitations) will be completed by December 2018.
The CM suggested that a micro level plan should be prepared in order to provide electricity to homes without electricity connections.
He stressed that electricity must be provided to the deprived households and Toks under the Saubhagya and Rural Electrification Scheme by December this year.
Rawat expressed hope that the department would work for bringing the power transmission losses down and curtail incidents of power theft in the State. He directed the officials to prepare a block and district wise list of transmission losses so that an effective action is taken in this regard.
Expressing concern on power related accidents the CM asked the officials to take effective preventive measures. He said that the accident-prone spots in all electricity divisions should be identified and remedial measures should be taken.
Rawat called for a campaign to ensure that there are no hanging electricity wires and directed the officials to ensure that the response time in case of disruption of the power is minimal. He said that efforts should be made to provide uninterrupted electricity to industrial areas. The CM also asked the officials to make sure that arrangements are in place for the ongoing Char Dham Yatra.
The Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Power A K Verma, who was present in the meeting said that the Ministry has declared the steps taken by Uttarakhand Government towards improving the power supply as best practices.
The secretary, Power, Radhika Jha said that the electricity supply has witnessed an improvement of 25 percent in urban areas and 15 percent in rural areas as compared to last year. She said that the power department has generated additional revenue of Rs 236 crore this year.
The meeting was also attended by Chief Secretary (CS) Utpal Kumar Singh, Managing Director (MD) Uttarakhand Power Corporation limited BCK Mishra and other senior officers. In the meeting, the district level officers were connected via video conferencing.