The Haryana Government on Wednesday launched a voluntary scheme ‘Mhara Gaon - Jagmag Gaon’, aimed at providing 24-hour uninterrupted power supply to rural domestic consumers and improving electricity bill collections in order to reduce huge accumulated losses of power utilities.Chief Minister Manohar lal on Wednesday said the State has become first in the country to launch such an innovative scheme.Giving details about the scheme at a Press conference, the Chief Minister said at present rural consumers were being supplied electricity for only 12 hours daily. In the first phase of the scheme, 83 feeders have been identified covering 310 villages having minimum line losses between 25 to 70 per cent and which have made payment of their electricity bills, he said.
Power supply would be ensured for 15 hours in these villages from Wednesday onwards instead of 12 hour power supply they were getting at present. The consumers in these 310 villages falling under these 83 feeders would now be urged to install their meters outside their houses and get their old electricity wires replaced with insulated wires, said the Chief Minister.On being asked to comment on the quantum of additional burden in implementing the scheme ‘Mhara Gaon- Jagmag Gaon’, the Chief Minister said the scheme would cost additional burden of `5 crore.
The Chief Minister said this scheme will also be implemented in other villages. The state would bear an additional expenditure of `15 to 20 lakh per village for implementation of this scheme. He added the State Government will continue to supply eight hours electricity to agriculture tubewells. The State-owned power utilities have accumulated losses to the tune of `24,000 crore.Meanwhile, the State Government would also organise ‘Bijli Panchayat’ in all villages falling under 83 feeders. The officers of Electricity Department would be present in these panchayats who would resolve the complaints like replacement of meters, electricity wire, installment of new poles and enhancement of load within a week.
He also claimed that adequate electricity is available in the State to meet the present requirement. The Government has set a target to generate 400 MW renewable energy by the year 2020. In addition, under the Central Government Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, a programme costing `2,000 crore has been launched for further strengthening distribution system in the State, added the Chief Minister.later in the day, the Chief Minister formally launched the scheme from village Dayalpur in district Kurukshetra.
1 50,000 posts to be filled
Chief Minister Manohar lal said 50,000 posts would soon be filled up to ensure smooth functioning of various Government departments. Requisition for 24,219 posts had already been sent to the recruitment agencies and 12,620 posts have so far been advertised including 8,793 vacancies in Education Department. Similarly, advertisement for filling up 7,200 posts in Police Department would also be issued soon. About 15,000 post of group D would also be filled up district wise. In the second phase, 6,000 police personnel would also be recruited, he added.
1 Rejected claims of favouritism in appointments of HPSC members
On the appointment of Kulbir Chhikara and Vandana Sharma as members of Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC), the Chief Minister said that both are eligible candidates for the position. We have appointed qualified candidates for the post and no favouritism is done in the selection process, he said. Sharma is the sister of Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj while Kulbir Chhikara is chief editor with Hindi daily, Hari Bhoomi, which is own by Haryana Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu. These were the first appointments that are being made to HPSC during the BJP rule in Haryana.
1 On delayed in compensation
The Chief Minister said that compensation is being given to the persons as per the recommendation of TP Garg Commission. Justice TP Garg (retd.) had submitted report of Commission on Inquiry Haud-Chillar (Rewari) incidents to the State Government on March 27. “We are releasing an installment of interim relief and the remaining amount would be released after making a provision in the supplementary budget. The report came after the budget was announced and budgetary provision could not be made for compensation,” said Manohar lal when asked why the compensation is not paid as per recommendations. The Government had accepted the recommendation of the Commission and had also decided to give six months extension for Gurgaon and Pataudi cases.