CM, Union Minister launch ‘Saubhagya’ scheme at Pavillion Ground.
Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat and Union Minister of State for Energy (Independent Charge) Dr. RK Singh on Friday jointly launched ‘Saubhagya’ scheme at Pavillion Ground here to provide electricity to those houses that don’t have electricity connection, at state level. This scheme has also been launched across all districts of Uttarakhand.
CM Trivdenra Singh Rawat said that this scheme has been launched today to provide electricity to all the deprived families who didn’t have electricity connections. The CM said that reach of electricity doesn’t only means availability of light.
He said that this scheme will bring an important change in the lives of those families who were deprived of electricity till date. CM said that in the last 1 year, 46 villages have been provided with electricity, which didn’t have it till date. He said that still, there are 26 villages in the state which are without electricity. He said that by April, all villages will be provided with electricity.
Union Minister of State for Energy (Independent Charge) RK Singh said efforts are being made to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of providing electricity to every household of the country. In the beginning, there were 18,452 villages that were deprived of electricity. But today, only 861 villages remain without electricity. He added that by April, all the remaining villages will be connected with electricity. He told that a target has been set to provide electricity to 4 crore houses by April 1, 2019. Till date, about 32 lakh deprived houses have been provided with electricity.
Union Minister praised CM Trivendra Singh Rawat and Uttarakhand state government’s functioning. He said that CM Rawat regularly keeps acting effectively, to run Centre based and centre-funded schemes and projects in the state. He follows every work due to which there is no reason that any task of state government remains pending with the Centre government. He also praised the work of Uttarakhand’s electricity department and said that availability of electricity has increased in the state.
Secretary for Energy Radhika Jha said that the ‘Saubhagya’ scheme has been launched across the state and related ministers have launched it in all districts. She told that in the past 1 year, 46 villages have been electrified. By March, the remaining 26 villages too shall be electrified. Secretary Jha told that still, a total of 3,52,625 families are deprived of electricity. Of these, 95,577 families will be provided with electricity through Deen Dayal Upadhaya Scheme; while remaining 2,57,048 families will be electrified under ‘Saubhagya’ scheme. Far-flung areas of Uttarakhand, where it is not possible to lay out electricity lines; will be provided electricity through solar power. For this, about Rs.50,000 will be spent per house. The number of such houses is 9,128.
Secretary Jha informed that the target of electrifying all left out and electricity deprived households in rural and urban areas has been set, to be finished by March 2019 under ‘Saubhagya’ scheme. Under this scheme, LED Bulb of 9 watt, a holder, an MCB, a socket, 2 switches, 10 feet PVC pipe, 10 feet PVC wire, cable to be connected with meter , electricity pole and a transformer will be provided for free, wherever needed; so that lives of state’s residents can be improved.
Present on the occasion were state minister Rekha Arya, MP Raj Lakshmi Shah, MLAs, and many other dignitaries. (ends (DIPR)
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