Arunachal Pradesh Chief Secretary Satya Gopal on Friday took stock of the progress and status of Saubhagya Scheme in the State. Saubhagya Scheme or Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana is an Indian Government project to provide electricity to all households. The project was announced in September 2017 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said that the aim was to achieve universal household electrification in the country by December 2018.
Addressing the meeting, the Chief Secretary raised concerns over the present pace of delivery of materials by the Rural Electrification Corporation Power Distribution Company Limited (RECPDCL) and requested its Executive Director GS Bhati to deliver the same by 15th of this month.
Taking into account the readiness of the Power Department to achieve 100 per cent household electrification in the State, he urged the departments concerned to work on “mission mode” so as to achieve the objective of the Government to provide last mile free electricity connections to all unelectrified households of the State by December 31, 2018.
It was decided in the meeting the materials required in the higher altitude and difficult terrains shall be transported on priority within a week’s time from the date of delivery of materials by RECPDCL in the base stores. The materials available will be installed in such a way that maximum HH connections are released with minimum additional infrastructure.
Village wise separate erection/installation teams for high and low tension, transformer distribution, and household works are kept on standby, so that the said works are completed within a week’s time from the date of receipt of materials at site. Bhati informed that as on date 20 per cent of materials have been delivered at pre-designated base stores by RECPDCL and the rest are in transit and would be delivered by the end of November.