New Delhi, September 25 (Indian Express): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched the Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana ‘Saubhagya’, a scheme to provide free electricity to 40 million households to begin with.
The scheme will cost the Central government Rs 160,000 million which will not be passed on to the poor, Modi said.
“Less than 3,000 villages remain un-electrified from 18,000 villages that were without power three years back.” India becoming electricity surplus from deficit,” PM added. Also he said four crore out of 25 crore families do not have power connection even after 70 years of independence. Talking about solar power, Modi said.
” Solar power tariff has dipped to Rs 2.44 per unit.” He also mentioned how LED usage is growing day by day. “Households save Rs 13,700 crore annually on account of use of LED lights,” Modi said.
“ The price of an LED bulb has come down from Rs 310 in February 2014 to Rs 40 in September 2017,” he added.
Saubhagya Yojana will give access to electricity to all ‘willing’ households
Also, Power Minister R K Singh on Monday said that India will achieve the target of power for all by December next year, while all villages will be electrified by the end of this year, much ahead of the schedule. Government had set the deadline for electrifying all villages by May 1, 2018. Similarly, it was aiming to provide 24X7 power to all by March, 2019.
“Prime Minister has said December 2018 is the target. We will do it. This is a tight target but we will do. Every household will get electricity by December 2018,” Singh said at the launch of ‘Saubhagya’ scheme for providing power to all households.