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Modi government's flagship scheme Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojna remains largely on paper

Only 3% funds are released in the rural electrification scheme, nearly 1.8 crore rural BPL households in the country still without power

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Only 5,500 villages in the country out of 1.2 lakh were covered under "intensive electrification" programme in the Modi government's ambitious rural electrification scheme-Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojna (DDUGJY) in past one and half years.

As on June 30, only 3% of the sanctioned project cost (Rs1,100 crore out of Rs41,000 crore outlay) has been released to states under the flagship scheme, reveal the latest statistics of the Power Ministry. The scheme was launched in December 2014 and named after the RSS ideologue who founded Bhartiya Jana Sangh, a precursor of Bharatiya Janta Party.

The scheme is projected as "power sector reforms for rural India". It promises round-the-clock electricity supply to farmers and rural households to transform rural India. The erstwhile Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) was subsumed in this scheme as "rural electrification" component. RGGVY funds of Rs40,000 crore was carried forward to the new scheme.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day speech of 2015, had announced that all 18,500 remaining villages in the country would be electrified within 1,000 days. Power Ministry figures say half of them already electrified. However, number of un-electrified rural BPL households in the country is still staggering 1.8 crore.

Such a contrast results due to definition of "electrified" village. A village is considered electrified if public places in the village and 10 per cent of its households have access to electricity.

Even the targets given under the 12th five-year plan (2012-17) are impossible to cross half mark. As of now, only a quarter of sanctioned amount of Rs23,600 crore for the 12th plan is released with achievement of 8% targets of rural BPL homes even as half of the targeted villages have been marked "electrified".

The wide gap between the reality and rhetoric suggests that the government may not be able to meet its target to provide power to every Indian household by the end of 2018. Interestingly, the Modi government has also promised 24/7 supply to all by 2019 creating cost-effective infrastructure under the DDUGJY.

The scheme focuses on feeder separation (rural households and agricultural) and strengthening of transmission and distribution infrastructure, including metering. However, due to delay in fund release, states have failed to start projects.

Among them is Maharashtra which hasn't received a single penny out of Rs2,100 crore sanctioned under the DDUGJY. Not a single household has been electrified under the scheme despite a backlog of 18 lakh houses in the remote hilly and tribal areas. Rajasthan and Telangana have met 0.4% and 0.04% targets respectively in powering rural BPL households. None of the states have crossed 20% target.

"We are in the process of finalizing the tenders for feeder separation and infrastructure work which will be floated in two months. The process was stuck as standard bidding document has been sent by the Centre only sometime back," says PU Shinde, Director of Projects, Mahavitaran, the state-run power company of Maharashtra.

RK Gupta, additional general manager, Rural Electrification Corporation of India, which supervises DDUGJY, claimed, "There is no fund crunch but most of it could not be released due to procedural delays. Overall, Rs41,700 crore has been disbursed to states from the Rs1 lakh crore available under the scheme including that of RGGVY."

Gupta's response indicates the funds released are mainly derived from RGGVY whose Rs40,000 crore was carried forward to the DDUGJY.

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