Early Times Report
BHADARWAH, May 6: Contradicting the recent claims made by Union Govt and State run Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) that all Indian villages now have access to electricity, BJP legislator and newly inducted Power Minister said that 102 villages in Jammu province alone remain un-electrified, of which 44 are in his own constituency-Kishtwar.
He was talking to media at Bhadarwah during his maiden visit of Chenab Valley region after being inducted into the state cabinet with important portfolio of Power Minister.
"In entire Jammu region, 102 villages are still un-electrified, to provide electricity to each and every household is the priority sector of our Prime Minister and at present work has been started on war footing to electrify these villages,"said Sunil Kumar Sharma, Power Minister.
"In my home constituency (Kishtwar), 44 villages are without electricity and to meet the deadline, we have even deployed IAF to reach inaccessible areas and I am quite confident that by 30th June all the left out villages will be electrified," Minister added.
It is notable to mention here that recently REC claimed that all Indian villages now have access to electricity. The last village to be brought on the national power grid was Leisang village in the Senapati district of Manipur on 28 April at 5.30pm.
According to the government data, all of India's 597,464 census villages have been electrified. This assumes importance given that at the onset of Rs75,893 crore DDUGJY for village electrification under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, there were 18,452 un-electrified census villages. During the project work it was found out that an additional 1275 villages also didn't have electricity access. As of 28 April, all these villages have got electricity access either through the national grid or off grid solutions. Also, 1,236 villages are uninhabited and 35 have been notified as grazing reserves. |
