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Bhubaneswar, July 11: In a bid to achieve the goal of ‘Power for All’, the state government has set a target to electrify 1,813 villages of the state by 2017.
“According to the data till March 2015, we had 3,144 unelectrified Census villages across the state. Of them, 1,209 villages were connected with electricity last year while 122 villages electrified during this fiscal. We have set a target of completing the electrification work at 1,813 villages by the end of 2017,” a senior official of energy department told Orissa POST Monday.
All the villages would be electrified under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) – under 12th five year plan – (earlier named as Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana), he added.
Apart from the above mentioned 3,144 villages, there are 521 more villages which are to be electrified under the DDUGJY. “We will complete the projects by December this year,” the official said.
Besides, the government has decided to electrify 269 villages through decentralised distribution system (solar energy).
“The Orissa Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) has been roped in to implement the solar projects. Tenders will soon be invited for the projects, which will be completed by November this year,” he said.
The estimated cost of the projects stands at `3,550.75 crore of which 60 per cent would be provided by Centre while remaining to be borne by the state government, said the official.
This apart, all left-out and inaccessible villages would be provided electricity under Biju Gram Jyoti Yojana through Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Ltd, he added.
In an attempt to strengthen the transmission and distribution network to ensure quality power supply, the government is in a process to set up 500 new 33/11 KV substations and replace 5,000 defunct transformers. A provision of `295 crore has been made for execution of the scheme this year.
