Total rural electrification by March

BHUBANESWAR: Claiming to have achieved about 80 per cent of rural electrification assigned to it under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) in the State, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) on Saturday promised the State Government that it would complete the remaining work by March, 2012.  The assurance was given by PGCIL chairman-cum-managing director RN Nayak who met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and State Enegry Minister Atanu S Nayak at the Secretariat here on Saturday. “Due to the monsoon PGCIL may not meet the target of completing electrification of 140 villages a month. However, we will complete the job in scheduled time,” Nayak told reporters. During the meeting the Chief Minister asked the PGCIL to expedite completion of the RGGVY work in the State. A proposal by PGCIL and Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) for improvement in power infrastructure in the State was discussed. Besides PGCIL, two other Central public sectors - NHPC and NTPC - had been assigned the job of rural electrification under RGGVY in the State. All the three CPSUs were accused of delaying the job which they took up about five years ago.  PGCIL which had been given work in 13 of the 30 districts, claimed to have completed work in 3,816 unelectrified and de-electified villages and 9,146 partially electrified villages. It also claimed to have supplied power to 3,24,144 BPL families so far while the target was to cover 8,96,549 families. The PGCIL is also setting up six grid stations at Bhawanipatna, Nuapada, Dabugaon, Kuchinda, Boudh and Padampur besides drawing 2400-KV line at Meramunduli and Duburi.  On the delay in implementation of the RGGVY in the State, Nayak said of the 14,000 targeted villages, electrification had been completed in 10,000 villages while 5,000 villages were already supplied power.