BHUBANESWAR: State Government has requested the Centre to include habitations having population of less than 100 under Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana.
Claiming that 40,442 villages have been electrified, Minister of State for Energy Pranab Prakash Das said power connection has been provided to over 51.67 lakh houses.
The State Government has planned to electrify the remaining 7215 villages and over 44.70 lakh households by end of 2019. It has been estimated to cost Rs 8900 crore for covering these households under the rural electrification programme.
Since power theft is the major reason of distribution loss in the State, the Government has sought financial assistance for aerial bunching of all low transmission cables to ensure 24X7 power supply to the rural areas.
The State Government has further demanded the Power Ministry to allow it to trade upto 200 MW of power through open access system from the power supplied through Jeypore-Gajuwaka 400 KV double circuit line.