E-Paper
Opposition accuses Centre of misleading country on electrification of villages
Opposition has accused the Centre of misleading the country by furnishing false information on rural electrification. As per Opposition’s claims there are about 50 revenue and forest villages in Madhya Pradesh alone going without electricity.
Opposition has accused the Centre of misleading the country by furnishing false information about all the villages having been provided electricity in the country. As per Opposition’s claims there are about 50 revenue and forest villages in Madhya Pradesh alone going without electricity.
However, minister for energy in Madhya Pradesh Paras Jain said electrification of villages meant electrification of revenue villages and that all the revenue villages had been provided electricity in Madhya Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on April 29, 2018, “28th April 2018 will be remembered as a historic day in the development journey of India. Yesterday, we fulfilled a commitment due to which the lives of several Indians will be transformed forever! I am delighted that every single village of India now has access to electricity.”
Leader Opposition in state assembly Ajay Singh said there were about 50 villages in Madhya Pradesh which had been waiting for electricity even after 15 years of the BJP rule in the state. These included revenue and forest villages both.
The villages, as per Ajay Singh’s claim, which don’t have electricity include Jhandana, Amba, Ghameli in Alirajpur district and Jaitgarh, Bili, Pond, Ramgarh, Khanapura, Gopalpur in Raisen district.
He said it didn’t behove a Prime Minister to tell a lie. For, such an act brought disgrace to the country. When PM was putting his claim Rural Electrification Corporation’s chief programme manager admitted in a press release that they were yet to make available electricity in 7.5 crore homes.
Energy minister Paras Jain said, “All the revenue villages have got electricity as per the norms of revenue villages. There are several majara/tola (hamlets under a village) which are in remote areas are being covered under Saubhagya Yojna. So far, we have made available connections to 13.67 lakh houses under the scheme.”
When asked how many forest villages were there in the state which are yet to get electricity he said he would look into it.
However, an official in the energy department wishing not to be quoted said, “Prime Minister’s words meant revenue villages only. For, there are still several forest villages in Madhya Pradesh where providing conventional energy is an uphill task. There are about two dozen villages where we are working on installation of solar energy units.”
Also, he said, in a reply in Lok Sabha the central government made it clear in February last year that villages located in backward, remote and inaccessible areas and also forest areas where grid connectivity was not feasible were being provided electricity through renewable sources under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna (DDUGJY). These villages were supposed to be apart from 18452 unelectrified villages as per census 2011 which were to be provided electricity by May 2018 and which the PM talked of.
Retired conservator of forest Madhya Pradesh government Jagdish Chandra said, “There must be at least 80% forest villages in Madhya Pradesh which are yet to get electricity. The reason being several restrictions imposed under forest conservation act. For providing conventional energy to these villages the state government is required to seek permission from the central government. Hence, providing non-conventional energy to these villages is only viable solution”, he added.
