Jharkhand bagged the award for being the State with the fastest growing rural domestic electrification between 2001and 2011 at the recently concluded 14 edition of the annual Regulators & Policymakers Retreat held in Goa.
The event was organised by Independent Power Producers Association of India.
The organisers said they chose Jharkhand because the State, which was carved out from Bihar in 2000, showed remarkable improvement when the percentage of rural households having electricity as per 2001 Census was compared with the corresponding figure in the 2011 Census. Interestingly, Bihar was the runner up in the category.
Other States such as Tamil Nadu, Sikkim and Karnataka were also lauded for their considerable growth in rural electrification in the same period.
V.K. Singh, Jharkhand’s Principal Secretary (Energy), who received the award on behalf of the State, told The Hindu that the base effect, i.e. fewer household with electricity connection to begin with and a concerted effort of the State government and the energy department contributed to the improved show.
Awards were also given away in other categories like power production, transmission and distribution.
Apart from the award ceremony, the four-day-long event also featured several discussion sessions between various stakeholders of the power sector including regulators, policy makers, representatives from the industry and other spheres.
