Biju Gram Jyoti Yojana a rebuff to Centre

The Pioneer, May 24, 2007
Pioneer News Service | Bhubaneswar

*10,000 villages to be electrified in five years
*State to provide Rs 1,000 cr from own resources

In a rebuff to the UPA Government's apathetic attitude towards Orissa, the State Government announced the Biju Gram Jyoti Yojana to take up rural electrification, on Wednesday.

Echoing Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's earlier remark, Energy Minister Surya Narayan Patro said, "We will not beg for funds from the Centre to carry out the rural electrification scheme. The State Government would fund this programme from its own resources," he said.

In this connection, Chief Minister Patnaik on Wednesday held a marathon meeting of officials of the Energy and Finance Departments and other coordinating agencies to chalk out the plan. "Under the Biju Gram Jyoti Yojana, around 10,000 villages will be electrified in a span of five years. Earlier, these villages were meant to be covered under the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyut Yojana," said Patnaik.

Later, briefing the media about the ambitious programme, Patro said the scheme would be immediately undertaken and covered under the 11th FiveYear Plan.

Lambasting the Centre for not providing funds to take up rural electrification programme, Patro said there would not be any fund constraints in the implementation of this programme. "A whopping Rs 1,000 crore would be spent under this scheme," he said, adding that a special programme would be taken up to identify the villages.

The District Electricity Committee (DEC) would be entrusted with carrying out the rural electrification programme. The District Collector would be given overall charge. He would ensure to the Government that rural electrification programme is carried out smoothly." District Collectors would be held directly responsible if the proposed programme is not implemented properly," said Patro.

He further said that District Collectors would convene the meetings of the distribution companies and directly discuss the issues with them. Views of the MLA and local representatives would be given due consideration while taking up the programme.

As per the plan, the Government would entrust the transmission of power to the Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL). OPTCL would be given the responsibility to execute the programme which it would monitor and supervise .The State Government would provide a Rs 550-crore bank guarantee to OPTCL. Against this bank guarantee, it could take loans from various financial institutions and invest the fund in the Biju Gram Jyoti Yojana.

New substations would be set up at Banei, Bouda, Akusinga, Aandapur, Nuapada, Bhawanipatna, Dabugaon, Chandpur and Padampur. A 400 KV line from IB to Mearmundali and a 220 KV line from Bargarh to Balangir would be erected.

It may be noted that despite the State Government's repeated requests, the Centre had not released funds for all the districts under the RGGVY to take up rural electrification. Out of the Centre's Rs 5,000 crore under the scheme, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar received Rs 4,500 crore, while all other States shared the rest Rs 500 crore among themselves. Orissa has received funds only for two districts. This after Chief Minister Patnaik had taken up the issue with the Centre several times.