NEW DELHI: Amid widespread criticism over the state of the economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced a mega Rs 16,320-crore scheme 'Saubhagya' to provide free electricity to all poor people in the country.
'Saubhagya' under the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, launched on the birth anniversary of Hindutva icon Deendayal Upadhyaya, would provide power connections to four crore families in rural and urban areas by December 2018, ahead of the 2019 general elections.
All villages would be electrified by December this year ahead of the scheduled deadline of May 1, 2018. The Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC) will remain the nodal agency for the operationalisation of the scheme throughout the country.
“We care about the four crore families who still do not have access to electricity,” Modi said. “Under Saubhagya, the government will provide door-to-door power connections. Rs 16,000 crore will be spent to bring a monumental change in the lives of the poor,” he said while launching the scheme.
The prime minister in his address regretted that even after 70 years of independence, 4 crore out of 25 crore families did not have access to power.
According to an official statement, the Gross Budgetary Support for the project is Rs 12,320 crore. The outlay for rural households is Rs 14,025 crore and for urban households, it is Rs 2,295 crore. The beneficiaries for free electricity connections would be identified using Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data.
However, un-electrified households not covered under the SECC data would also be provided electricity connections on payment of Rs 500, which shall be recovered by DISCOMs in 10 instalments through electricity bills.
“I appeal to the industry to come and invest. India’s energy requirement is going to quadruple. You please come and invest,” said Power Minister RK Singh. He also said the government was planning to adopt a pre-paid model to provide electricity to all households. According to the GARV portal, out of the 18,452 villages identified, 14,483 have been electrified and the work is in progress in another 2,981 villages.
Modi said that earlier there used to be breaking news regarding power outages and a shortage of coal to power plants but now the situation has changed and the nation is moving from a scenario of power shortage to surplus.
R K Singh added that a proposal which would seek to take discoms to task for load shedding in cases other than technical faults, natural calamities or accidents, would soon be placed before the prime minister for approval. Singh said that all those electricity board and discoms which would do load shedding without genuine reasons would be fined. The minister also talked about shifting to prepaid electricity connections where people are able to recharge in Rs 50 or Rs 100 denomination just like in case of mobile phones.
The prime minister also called upon ONGC to use its Rs 100 crore start up funds to develop user friendly electric cooking appliances saying it would help in reducing the fuel consumption. According to an official statement, the total outlay of the 'Saubhagya' project is Rs 16,320 crore while the Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) is Rs 12,320 crore. The outlay for the rural households is Rs 14,025 crore while the GBS is Rs 10,587.50 crore.
For the urban households, the outlay is Rs 2,295 crore while GBS is Rs 1,732.50 crore. The Centre will provide largely funds for the scheme to all States/UTs. The beneficiaries for free electricity connections would be identified using Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data. However, it said that un-electrified households not covered under the SECC data would also be provided electricity connections under the scheme on payment of Rs 500 which shall be recovered by DISCOMs in 10 instalments through electricity bill.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to address growth concerns, Modi also announced the setting up of a five-member panel of economists headed by NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy. The Economic Advisory Council (EAC) will be an independent body that would advise the government, especially the Prime Minister, said an official statement. Bibek Debroy, who has written a book on Ramayan and edited three books on the Modi government, is considered to be an RSS sympathiser.
Surjit Bhalla, Rathin Roy and Ashima Goyal would be part-time members of the council and Ratan Watal would be member-secretary. Terms of reference of the EAC would be to “analyse any issue, economic or otherwise, referred to it by the Prime Minister and advise him thereon.” It will also address issues of macroeconomic importance — suo-motu or otherwise.
(With PTI inputs)