Local bodies to monitor rural power scheme

NEW DELHI: The government has decided to set up district committees with local representation to monitor the progress of the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), a flagship programme to electrify villages, a senior power ministry official said.

The committee will also include local members of Parliament (MPs) and members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) for effective implementation of the scheme, minister of state for power Bharatsinh Solanki told Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

The RGGVY proposes to electrify 118,146 villages by the end of Eleventh Plan (2007-12). This is an integral part of government���s initiative to provide power to all by 2012. But, by June 2009, only 62,527 villages could be covered under the scheme and 55,619 villages are still living in dark.

���Chief Ministers have also been requested for expeditious implementation of the scheme and the chief secretaries of states have been asked to resolve state level issues by holding state level co-ordination Committee meetings,��� Mr Solanki said.

He said that for speedier and effective implementation of projects, execution has been taken up on turnkey basis. In addition, the minister said that grant amount of BPL (below the poverty line) connection has also been enhanced to Rs 2,200 from Rs 1,500 earlier.

The government has approved a capital subsidy of Rs 28,000 crore for execution of RGGVY in Eleventh Plan. An amount of Rs 14,952.96 crore have been disbursed for the sanctioned projects under the scheme as on June 30, 2009.

In addition, the government along with the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), conduct frequent review meetings with all the stakeholders; the concerned state governments, state power utilities and implementing agencies for expeditious implementation of the scheme on the agreed schedules.

To ensure qualitative execution of rural electrification works, a three tier quality control mechanism has been enforced under RGGVY. To take care of the cost escalation, cost norms for village electrification have been revised upward.