October 12, 2008

India plans electricity to all villages by 2009 – Report

Mr Jairam Ramesh union minister of state for power said that centre is planning to provide electricity to all villages across India by 2009.

Mr Ramesh said that under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana, 90% capital subsidy is provided by the power ministry for distribution and 100% grant is given for providing free connections to households below poverty line. RGGVY forms part of Bharat Nirman and aims at providing electricity to about 125,000 villages and electricity connection to 2.3 crore below poverty line households in the country by 2009.

He said that to provide electricity to all rural households, the government has accorded approval of INR 28,000 crore as capital subsidy for continuation of the scheme during 11th Plan period. Rural Electrification Corporation has been asked to compress the project execution to 15 months from 18 months. He added that for implementation of RGGVY, periodic review meetings are being conducted by the power ministry, REC and state governments, for taking all suitable actions to ensure timely completion of the projects.

Mr Ramesh further added that the monitoring committee has approved 316 projects for execution during the 11th Plan period. De centralized Distributed Generation and supply has been brought under the ambit of RGGVY with an initial allocation of INR 540 crore.