Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Mr Trivendra Singh Rawat reviewed the central government’s priority programmes being run by the Department of Power, at secretariat. The Chief Minister directed the officials to set week and month wise targets for electrification under the ‘Saubhagya’ and ‘Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Rural Electrification Scheme’. The Chief Minister said that in order to provide electricity to homes without electricity connections, a plan at the micro level should be prepared. He said that electricity must be provided to the deprived households and ‘Toks” (hamlets) under the ‘Saubhagya’ and Rural Electrification Scheme by December this year.
The Chief Minister also expected to bring down the power generation loss and power theft incidents in the state. He directed the officials to prepare a block and district wise list to assess the power distribution loss and an effective action should be taken in this regard. He said that there was no pressure on the vigilance team of the Power Department and they should carry out their work effectively.
Chief Minister Mr. Trivendra Singh Rawat expressed concern over power related mishaps and asked for effective action for its prevention. He directed the officials to identify accident-prone spots of all the electricity divisions and fix them without any delay. He also directed the officials to run a campaign to ensure that there are no hanging electricity wires. He directed the officials to ensure that the response time in case of disruption of the power is minimal. He said that efforts should be made to provide uninterrupted electricity to industrial areas. He directed the officials to make sure that arrangements are proper for the ‘Char Dham yatra’.
Union government terms works of the Power Department as “Best Practices”
In the meeting, the Joint Secretary, Union Government AK Verma said that that Union Power Ministry has declared the steps taken by Uttarakhand government towards improving the power supply as best practices. He said that arrangements have been made to monitor and register the disruption and the rectification of the electricity in the character register of the officials. Secretary Power Radhika Jha said that as compared to the last year, this year, the electricity supply has witnessed an improvement of 25 per cent in urban areas and 15 per cent in rural areas. She said that the power department has generated a revenue of Rs 236 crores more this year as compared to previous financial year. The power losses are constantly coming down and will improve further in the days to come.
Saubhagya Yojna
Under the ‘Saubhagya Yojna’, a total target of connecting 3,17,595 households with electrification has been fixed. A DPR of Rs 172.44 crore has been submitted to the central government. From the advance funds of Rs 13.88 crores, around 55 thousand households have been given electricity connections. The Chief Minister directed the officials to set the target on weekly and monthly basis and complete the work soon. The Joint Secretary Union Government said that the state government’s DPR will be granted approval soon.
Deeen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna
The electrification of all the proposed 94 revenue villages under Deen Dayaal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojna has been completed. The electrification of 4758 Toks/Majras will be completed by December 2018. In wake of the target set to provide electricity till December 2018, from total of 1,22,618 houses in the state, which are without electricity, as many as 25,605 families have been provided electricity. A sum of Rs 18 crores have been approved for roof top solar power installation in Dehradun and Haridwar. Under this scheme, the target of kilowatt capacity till March 2019 has been kept at 2765 KW. The work of laying underground power cables has begun in Haridwar, for which funds to the tune of Rs 188.75 crores has been approved by the centre and the Union Minister Mr. R.K.Singh has given his consent in principal to provide Rs 200 crores additional fund. Haridwar is second city after Varanasi that will undergo the work of underground power cables. Besides others, the meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh and Managing Director, Power Corporation BCK Mishra. In the meeting, the district level officers were connected via video conferencing.
