Jhumpura: The Centre has claimed success in rural electrification, but the ground reality tells the contrary in many parts of Keonjhar district.
Scores of villages under hilly Jhumpura block have been deprived of the Centre-sponsored electrification scheme Soubhagya.
The rural electrification drive has reportedly floundered even as contractors assigned such work were accused of having botched it up.
Poor people, who are entitled to get electricity under this scheme, had staged agitations at the Nesco office in the past, but there has been no step by the power distribution company to carry it forward.
The electrification work has been left incomplete at many villages, but nobody is paying heed to the plight of locals at the official level.
Social activists were agoinsed over the miserable condition in which people have been living without electricity in such hilly terrains fraught with dangers from wild animals.
They pointed out that poor beneficiaries were entitled to get equipment such as transformers, wires and meters.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – Saubhagya, the Centre aims at providing energy access to all un-electrified households in rural as well as urban areas. It is part of the government’s mission to achieve universal household electrification across the country.
Reports said, the electrification drive has been abandoned halfway at Ashrala, Jhumpura, Khuntapada, Barakhandia, Khendera, Balibandh, Raikala, Handibhanga and other villages.
Villagers alleged that the electrification drive had failed to make progress due to callousness on part of the contractor.
Engineers of Jhumpura and Rimuli sections – L Barik and D Murmu said higher authorities have been apprised of the work through reports.
“We will look to whatever work will be done as recommended by Nesco superintending engineer Narayan Das,” they added.
