Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: Even though the energy department surveyed 3,615 villages in March 2015 to ensure their electrification at the earliest, as many as 3,665 villages in the state are yet to be electrified.
Sources in the energy department said Mayurbhanj district tops the list with 488 villages without electricity. Not a single village in Mayurbhanj district has been electrified in the last one year, official data revealed. Mayurbhanj is followed by Rayagada district, where 438 villages are yet to be electrified. As per official data, the number of unelectrified villages in Rayagada district stood at 600 last year.
As of February this year, Koraput had 406 villages without electricity, followed by Kandhamal, with 305 villages; Malkangiri, with 255 villages; Kalahandi, with 227 villages; Angul, with 221 villages; Nawarangpur, with 193 villages; Sundargarh, with 190 villages, Sonepur, with 110 villages; and Deogarh, with 101 villages.
Of the 3,665 unelectrified villages, around 900 have been categorised as inaccessible. Officials said the state government has taken steps to electrify 3,144 villages under Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana XII plan and 521 villages under Din Dayal Upadhyaya Gramin Jyoti Yojana XII plan.
Energy minister Pranab Prakash Das, in his written reply in the Assembly to a query from Congress Chief Whip Taraprasad Bahinipati recently, had said the state government had initiated a survey in 3,615 unelectrified villages across the state in March 2015.
He said work has already been started by NTPC and PGCIL in 24 districts for electrification of villages. Work is in progress in different districts, he said, adding that work will be initiated in the remaining six districts after finalisation of tender.
