The Chhattisgarh Government has established a total of 1,881 solar powered pumps in the forest and inaccessible regions for providing safe drinking water to the people residing in such regions.
Significantly, on rural electrification, as many as 568 remote villages in Chhattisgarh out of the sanctioned 682 were electrified under Central Government’s ‘Remote Village Electrification Programme’ as on March 31, 2014, according to the annual report 2013-14 of the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
The ‘Remote Village Electrification Programme’ is under implementation across the country for providing financial support for lighting/basic electricity using renewable energy sources in those unelectrified remote census villages, unelectrified hamlets of electrified census villages where grid connectivity is either not feasible or not cost effective and not covered under ‘Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana’ (RGGVY) for grid electrification.
Although a variety of renewable energy technologies are possible for lighting/basic electrification of remote villages including small hydro, biomass and solar energy, yet, solar PV lighting remains the most preferred, it stated.The decision to use a particular technology is taken by the State implementing agencies after examination of the technical feasibility and resource availability.The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy provides Central Financial Assistance upto 90 per cent of the cost of the renewable energy systems subject to pre specified maximum amount for each technology.
The cumulative sanctions of the villages and hamlets under the programme since its inception had reached 13,059. The main states where the programme has greater relevance due to difficulty to access areas are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and North Eastern States, the report stated.
A special priority is provided to villages affected by left Wing Extremism in line with the policy of the Central Government, it stated.The identification of the remote villages/villages had been broadly entrusted to the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC).The State Governments shortlist unelectrified villages/hamlets in their states which are not likely to be electrified through grid and send their names to the Ministry for verification by the REC for non coverage under RGGVY for grid electrification.
Overall, more than 97 per cent villages of Chhattisgarh have been electrified so far. As many as 12 districts of the State have been completelyelectrified while more than half of the districts are about to be declared completely electrified, officials here stated. 97.39 per cent villages have been electrified while initiatives have been taken to provide electricity in the remaining 2.61 per cent villages through conventional means and non-conventional sources.
Senior officers are monitoring and reviewing the execution and progress of these schemes on daily basis.There are 19567 habitated villages in the State out of which 19,057 have been electrified. The CSPDCl is providing electricity to 18,208 villages through conventional sources and 39 villages through non-conventional sources.The Chhattisgarh State Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) has also played a significant role in providing electricity in 810 villages through Non-conventional sources, officials here stated.
The company has set records by supplying electricity in the far flung villages and settlements of the State. The company has taken effective steps to remove the hurdles in the way of achieving the target of 100 per cent electrification of villages. As long as 1.36 lakh kilometre increase has been registered in the power supply lines of different capacity during the last 11 years in Chhattisgarh, officials informed.
Since the formation of the State, about 1.50 lakh kilometre extension has so far been made in different capacity power lines in the State, they stated. With the addition of these lines, the total length of power lines in the State has reached to 2,54,721 kms. Out of this, 1,54,311-km is of low Tension (lT) and 83,311-km 11 kV capacity line and 17,384 km 33 kV capacity lines. At the time of formation of the State, the total capacity of power lines was 1,04,858 km.
This apart, on October 17 this year, members of a parliamentary committee led by MP Faggan Singh Kulaste observed functioning of a solar-powered public drinking water system set up in Kotani village of Raipur district.The Committee members praised Chhattisgarh government’s efforts to solve the drinking water problems in forested and rural pockets by installing as many as 1568 such solar-powered pumps.
Chhattisgarh holds number one position in making supply of pure drinking water using solar-powered system, officials claimed.The team of parliamentarians including Dr Vijaylaxmi Sadho, Balbhadra Manjhi, Kripal Balaji Tumne, S Thangavelu, R Dhruvnarayana, JD Silam, Dr Virendra Kumar, Kamla Devi Patle, Dr Anil Kumar Sahni, Ramchandra Paswan, Bhanupratap Singh Verma and Ajay Tamta also congratulated the Chief Minister Raman Singh for the achievement.
The officials concerned informed the parliamentarians that 960 pumps have been set up by ‘National Clean Energy Fund’ while 626 pumps have been established under ‘National Rural Drinking Water Programme’. The Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) was made the executing agency for setting up the system across the State.The parliamentarians learnt the functioning and features of solar-powered pumps. They also expressed willingness to set up such systems to solve drinking water problems in their respective areas.The MPs also learnt about other development works carried out in the village.