core sector communique

Parliamentary Consultative Committee of Ministry of Power Reviews Implementation of RGGVY

The Consultative Committee of Members of Parliament for the Ministry of Power reviewed the implementation of Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) at a meeting in New Delhi today. The meeting was chaired by Minister of Power Shri Sushilkumar Shinde. Outlining the achievements of the RGGVY, Shri Shinde said that the Bharat Nirman targets of covering one lakh villages and providing connection to 175 lakh BPL families have already been achieved. He added that during the 11th Plan, about 53,000 MW capacity has already been added which is the highest in any Plan Period so far. Later, Ministry of Power gave a detailed presentation on the progress of the scheme. It was informed that 1,02,993 villages against the revised coverage target of 1,10,787 villages were already covered under the scheme at the end of February 2012 while the number of BPL households covered was 185.58 lakh against the revised coverage target of 231.83 lakh households. The members were also informed that it has been proposed to continue the RGGVY during the 12th Plan with 90% capital subsidy. During the 12th Plan the scheme will aim to cover all remaining habitations irrespective of population and BPL households. It is also proposed to enhance BPL load from the range of 40-60 Watt to 250 Watt and to provide LED in each BPL household. The 12th Plan also proposes to have a separate new scheme for productive loads, mainly agricultural loads.

The members while appreciating the scheme pointed out a few issues relating to its monitoring and transformers getting burnt due to overloading. They also called for time bound coverage of remaining BPL families.

Shri K.C. Venugopal, Minister of State for Power was also present on the occasion.

The Members of Parliament who were present included Shri Om Prakash Yadav, Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Shri Ramkishun, Shri O.S. Manian, Shri Baju Ban Riyan, Smt. Meena Singh, Shri Baidyanath Prasad Mahto, Shri Vishwa Mohan Kumar, Shri Uday Pratap Singh, Shri K. Bapi Raju, Shri Sajjan Singh Verma, Dr. Baliram, Shri Basudeb Acharia, Shri Ponnam Prabhakar, Shri Ghansyam Anuragi.