Munger, Kishanganj & Sheikhpura to be fully electrified by Sept

Bihar hopes to achieve the target of electrification of all households in three of its total 38 districts - Munger, Kishanganj and Sheikhpura, by end of September this year.

PATNA Bihar hopes to join the league of top performing states like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, as it strives to achieve the target of electrification of all households in three of its total 38 districts by September-end.

Bihar is on its way to electrify all households of the state by December 2018. (Representative image)

To begin with, the state is targeting full electrification of households in Munger in south-eastern Bihar, Kishanganj in north-eastern Bihar and Sheikhpura, also in south-eastern Bihar, in its endeavour to electrify all households in the state by December 2018.

“We have laid the power infrastructure and electrified all villages in these three districts. We are now energising every household,” energy secretary and chairman-cum-managing director, Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited (BSPHCL), Pratyaya Amrit, told the Hindustan Times.

“We have completed energising all BPL (below poverty line) households and are now concentrating on APL (above poverty line) households,” he added.

The BSPHCL has set itself a challenging target to achieve full electrification of the three districts by September. As on date, 59,000 households still remain to be electrified in the three districts.

Giving a break-up, managing director, South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited, R Lakshmanan, said: “We have electrified 2,10,000 households in Kishanganj and 30,000 remain to be done. In Munger, we have completed 1,72,000 households while 13,000 remain to be energised. In Sheikhpura, only 16,000 households now remain to be electrified after energising 62,000.”

Exuding confidence of achieving the target, Lakshmanan said “Going ahead from here, we should be electrifying around 2 lakh households every month.”

Bihar has set aside financial assistance of Rs 1,891 crore for electrification of APL households under the Mukhyamantri Vidyut Sambadh Nischay Yojana, which is part of the ‘seven resolves’ adopted by the grand alliance government as policy of governance after coming to power in November 2015.

Besides engaging 14 private agencies to electrify households on turnkey basis, Bihar has also hired two project management agencies for quality check and certification. While the executing agency gets 70% payment after energising a household, 30% is released only after generation of first energy bill to the consumer.

The power firm is using mobile app for collecting applications for new energy connection. While Aadhaar is a prerequisite, consumers have to sign a declaration form as the applicable charges of a new service connection are adjusted against their energy bills in 10 equal instalments.

BLURB

BSPHCL has set itself a challenging target to achieve full electrification of the three districts by September. As on date, 59,000 households still remain to be electrified in the three districts