Assam stands to win in being the most progressive state in making power in every household, a reality, expressed Power, Coal, Renewable Energy and Mines Minister Piyush GoyaL.
At one point where the state has shown tremendous progress, there are states where the government is finding it a mammoth of the task to percolate down to the ground level and make power supply available.
The minister stated that the government faced a hard time in getting private contractors to bid on the J&K power projects, “The private contractors do not come out to work due to sensationalisation and misleading ground reports. However, Rural Electrification Corporation has speeded up the process and has taken up the task at full gear”.
The hilly terrain areas where Grid availability is a challenge, the government has come with up off- grid package including solar standalone systems for households with LED bulbs, fans, solar batteries, power points for appliances.
The minister also said that if the people of the country start to pay the electricity bills honestly and the Discoms are able to bring down the ATC losses to less than 15 per cent, the 24x7 power supply will be a reality and states would be rewarded accordingly.
He mentioned that the government has been able to get the country’s largest state Uttar Pradesh on board for making 24x7 electricity project, which was earlier resisted by the previous government.
“As compared to the figure of 1500 villages, there are only 6 villages left in UP where power hasn’t reached. Similarly, Rajasthan has one village, yet to be electrified, two in Nagaland and five in West Bengal”.
In a press conference on the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana, Piyush Goyal said that electricity production is “surplus” in India. Of the 18,452 villages in the country, more than 13,000 villages have been electrified. Only 3,900 villages remain to get the electricity. Goyal added that Centre has made sure that remaining villages will be electrified before August 15, 2022.
BW Reporters
Naina Sood is a Economics graduate and has done her post graduation in International economics and Trade. She has deep interests in Indian economy and reforms
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