‘Saubhagya’ to light up four crore homes

Sanjeev Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 25

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched a new scheme Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana — “Saubhagya” which aims at providing electricity connections to four crore households across the country at a cost of Rs 16,320 crore by December 2018 with the collateral benefits of creating demand for industrial equipment and employment opportunities.

Power Minister RK Singh said the scheme will also lead to an industrial stimulus and employment opportunities with the requirement of equipment for providing new connections. 

Elaborating on the reforms and initiatives taken by the government in the past three years in the power and energy sector, the Prime Minister said the Saubhagya scheme is the result of those reforms which have been carried out.

While emphasising that the current government has achieved much more than the previous UPA government in these sectors in output and implementation targets in the power, coal and energy sectors, the Prime Minister said all the schemes launched by the government are aimed at the welfare of the poor.

He said through a new approach and implementation style of this government, the country has become power surplus and the days of power deficit have been left behind. He said daily coal shortages, grid collapses and power shortages which used to become breaking news are a thing of the past and this has been achieved through transparent policies.

Showing a NASA satellite shot of the map of India in the background, the Prime Minister said the picture shows India lit up bright in 2016 compared to a much darker picture in 2012.

“Rs 16,000 crore will be spent to bring a monumental change in the lives of the poor,” Modi said while launching the ‘Saubhagya’ scheme here.

The Prime Minister regretted that even after 70 years of Independence four crore out of 25 crore families did not have access to power and said like the Ujjwala yojana for LPG connections, this scheme too will impact the life of the poor.

The Central government will provide largely funds for the Scheme to all States/UTs in the rural and urban areas. The States and UTs are required to complete the works of household electrification by December 31, 2018.

Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana 

• Under the scheme, the government proposes to provide electricity to all households by December 2018, ahead of the earlier target of March, 2019
• All villages would be electrified by December this year ahead of the scheduled deadline of May 1, 2018
• The beneficiaries would be identified using Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 data
• However, un-electrified households not covered under the SECC data would also be provided electricity connections under the scheme on payment of Rs 500 which shall be recovered by DISCOMs in 10 instalments.