Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the ambitious Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) on Saturday here during his visit to Bihar. The DDUGJY is one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry of Power and will facilitate 24x7 supply of electricity.Providing this information, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said by 2022, all the houses in Bihar — from urban to rural areas — will be electrified and Bihar will become self reliant in power.The DDUGJY approved by the Union Government draws its inspiration from the similar scheme implemented by the Government of Gujarat during Modi’s regime. This scheme will enable initiation of the much-awaited reforms in the rural areas.
Them scheme focuses on feeder separation (rural households and agricultural) and strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution infrastructure, including metering at all levels in rural areas. This will help in providing round-the-clock power to rural households and adequate power to agricultural consumers .
The earlier scheme for rural electrification, namely Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), has been subsumed in the new scheme as its rural electrification component. The scheme has an outlay of Rs76,000 crore for implementation of the projects under which Centre is committed to provide grant of Rs63,000 crore. A total of Rs14,680 crore worth projects have already been approved out of which projects amounting to Rs5,827 crore have been approved for Bihar.
The PM is expected to announce the components of special package for Bihar. From the Veterinary College ground, his first stoppage on Saturday soon after arrival, he will inaugurate the newly constructed state of the art campus of IIT-Patna located at Bihta by remote. He will also inaugurate the work on much awaited Jagdishpur-Haldia gas pipeline project. From the same venue the PM will flag off Patna-Mumbai bi-weekly Suvidha train and also open the 38 km long Daniyawan-Biharsharif railway line which is awaiting inauguration for one year.
Modi will address the national meet of Indian Council of Agricultural Research and give away ICAR awards under various categories.Modi will launch BJP’s poll campaign from Muzaffarpur where the party is holding a big rally.Chief Minister Nitish who announced that he would welcome the PM at the airport and attend all the official programmes wherever he would be invited, however questioned Modi’s contribution in any of the projects he is going to inaugurate. He said the IIT was gifted by the UPA government and Bihar provided 500 acres of land for its campus. The Saniyawan-Biharsharif rail line was approved by him when he was Railway Minister and the Jagdishpur-Haldia gas pipeline project was initiated by the previous Government.Nitish said he is waiting for PM’s announcements in Muzaffarpur to see if he really will give some package to Bihar or just do Rspackaging’ of old projects.