State to be fully electrified on Monday

Power Dept to provide connections to over 1.5 lakh applicants under the ambitious total electrification scheme

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will declare the state fully electrified on May 29, with the Power Department providing connections to over 1.5 lakh applicants under the ambitious Total Electrification Scheme.
“The Chief Minister will make the declaration at the Mananchira Maidan, Kozhikode,” Electricity Minister M M Mani said on Thursday. ‘’We expected one lakh applicants, but the number has exceeded 1.5 lakh. The Power Department has also provided 4.7 lakh new electric connections in the first year of the LDF government,’’ Mani said.

The Total Electrification Scheme was spearheaded by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) with support from the Energy Management Centre and the Agency for Non-conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT). The total cost of the Total Electrification Scheme was `174 crore. “The central guideline for total electrification is that at least two public utilities in a village and 10 per cent of the households should be coveredto be declared fully electrified. Going by that norm, Kerala was fully electrified years ago. The LDF Government’s target was to provide electricity connection to all households,’’ Mani said.

Of the 1.5 lakh beneficiaries, almost 1.25 lakh belonged to BPL category. They also included 32,000 SC applicants and 17,500 tribal families, the minister said. ‘’The majority of the applicants were financially unable to even complete the wiring in their homes. KSEB employees and their unions helped them complete it,’’ the minister said.

As part of the scheme, the KSEB strung 65 km of 11 kV overhead lines, 40 km of 11 KV underground cables, 3040 km of LT overhead cables, 39 km LT underground cables and erected 21 transformers.
A major achievement was the electrification of tribal hamlets in border districts like Wayanad and Idukki, he said.  In remote hamlets where stringing of power lines were physically impossible, the department resorted to solar plants.

Around 1,600 homes in 22 tribal villages were electrified in this manner. M M Mani will preside over the function planned at 3.30 pm. Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, ministers and MLAs will attend it.

The hapless few
Even though the state will be declared fully electrified on May 29, 1046 houses will still remain without electricity. This is due to court cases and NoC issues raised by the Forest Department. KSEB sources said 662 houses were yet to get electricity due to NoC issues and 384 due to court cases.

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