PM Modi assures electricity to all: All you need to know about Saubhagya scheme

Saubhagya scheme wants to connect all un-electrified rural and urban households who are willing to take a power connection.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced a new scheme to provide power to all people, marking the birth anniversary celebrations of Sangh ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana or ‘Saubhagya’, to supply electricity to poor households, in New Delhi on Monday. (PTI Photo)

The scheme, pegged at Rs 16,320 crore, will provide free electric connections to an estimated 4 crore poor households.

Here are the details of the scheme:

* The scheme aims to set up basic electricity infrastructure in villages and provide free electricity connections to below poverty line (BPL) households.

* The Saubhagya scheme wants to connect all un-electrified rural and urban households who are willing to take a power connection.

* The government hopes that by pumping Rs 16000 crore into the economy, additional job opportunities may open up.

* The new scheme is set to give several social benefits to poor households as can be envisaged with the use of power. The PM remarked that people who don’t have electricity, live in the 18th century.

* All power meters will have technology driven registration, payment and consumer billing to avoid any leakage. There will be both centre and state-level monitoring and web-based monitoring mechanism of the scheme.

* Rural people, who don’t fall within the ambit of the socio-economic caste census that determines the level of poverty, will pay Rs 500 for connection. They will have 10 installment facilities. Urban non-poor excluded from the scheme.

* 90% of the targeted un-electrified households falls in the more than 10 states including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and J&K.