Government electrifies 20% more villages

As of Jan. 2, 2016, 3,656 villages were electrified

CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, 23/12/2014: With the passing of time, the usage of these lights (hurricane and petromax lamps) has also come down. One finds petromax lamps run on kerosene being used rarely these days. Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam

The government has electrified 20 per cent of the villages that were without power at the start of this financial year, according to an analysis by The Hindu of the data provided by the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY).

As of January two,2016 the DDUGJY had electrified 3,656 or 20 per cent of the 18,452 villages without power at the start of this financial year.

In July last year, the DDUGJY said it aimed to provide round-the-clock power to rural households and adequate electricity to agricultural consumers.

The scheme had an outlay of Rs 76,000 crore out of which the Centre committed to provide a grant of Rs.63,000 crore.

Of the remaining 14,796 villages that still had to get electricity, work had started in only 1,843 (12 per cent) of them.

Out of the 5,522 villages inspected by the DDUGJY officials, 13 per cent had missed the milestones set for them for electrification.