In a revolutionary progression, the Centre has announced that 8 more states namely, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Puducherry, Telangana and West Bengal have achieved 100 per cent saturation in household electrification under the Pradhan Mantri “Saubhgya Yojana’. Thus a total of 15 states in India have 100 per cent household electrification, said RK Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and Renewable Energy.
The other states, which have already achieved 100 per cent household electrification are Punjab, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Goa.
He furthered that India can achieve the target of 100 per cent countrywide household electrification by December 31, 2018, against the earlier target of March 31, 2018. The Minister added that as many as 21 million connections have been made under the scheme so far.
‘Saubhagya Yojana’, also known as ‘Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana’, was launched in September 2017 aiming to provide access to electricity to all the remaining households in the country.
A small number of un-electrified households which are still left in States like Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are likely to achieve saturation any time soon. At this pace, Indian households are expected to be fully electrified by this year-end, said the Minister.
The 100 per cent success of this initiative taken up by the BJP government would definitely be another feather on the government’s hat, who has been consistently working on various development projects.
The Minister further said that the government is committed to ensuring 24×7 access to electricity for all by March 31, 2019, and their achievement of 100% household electrification in the country would be a major milestone in the direction to achieve 24×7 power for all.
In order to ensure that no household, especially in the states which are already 100 percent electrified, have been left un-electrified, for whatever reason, the government have requested the states to take up a campaign to publicise the achievement all across the areas, so that anyone left out may avail electricity connection under Saubhagya scheme.
