Government confident of completing 100 per cent household electrification by January end under Saubhagya scheme

India is all set to achieve 100 per cent household electrification by the January 2019 end, under Saubhagya scheme. As on date around 99 per cent of the total household have been electrified according to Saubhagya portal.

Launched in September 2017, the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yoyana (Saubhagya) scheme with an outlay of INR 16320 crore aims to ensure that all remaining households in rural and urban regions receive last-mile power connectivity.

The deadline of March 31, 2019 was set to provide targeted 2.48 crore power connections under the Saubhagya scheme. Later analysing the progress, Power Minister R K Singh, committed to complete the task by December 31, 2018.

However, the speed of work slowed down in some states due to elections and Maoist problems, while there were some contractual issues as well in a few states. As per Saubhagya portal, as of today about 2,21,301 lakh households are left to be electrified in four states — Assam (94,352), Rajasthan (88,219), Meghalaya (18,437) and Chhattisgarh (20,293).

According to Saubhagya portal, with effect from October 11, 2017 the scheme targeted electrification of 2,48,27,002 households. Till today, electrification of 2,46,05,701 household have been completed.