The government has connected about 96 per cent of households across the country with electricity supply, and hopes to take power lines to the rest by January 26. That’s a significant achievement the Narendra Modi government will showcase to the voters before the next Lok Sabha elections.
It all started with Jaitley announcing the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana in Budget 2014-15. Aimed at providing 24×7 uninterrupted power supply to all homes, the scheme for feeder separation would augment power supply to the rural areas and strengthen sub-transmission and distribution systems. Jaitley set aside a sum of Rs. 500 crore for the new scheme.
In his first budget Jaitley announced several other proposals for the power sector such as a scheme for solar power driven agricultural pump sets and water pumping stations for energizing one lakh pumps and reducing the basic customs duty from 10 per cent to 5 per cent on certain components used in in the manufacture of wind-operated electricity generators.
In Budget 2015-16, reiterating the government’s commitment to 24X7 power across the country, Jaitley announced a slew of measures including five ultra-mega power projects (UMPPs) on the plug and play mode. Emphasizing the government’s focus on clean energy, Jaitley announced that the Clean Energy Cess would be doubled to Rs 200 per tonne of coal.
Jaitley also announced an ambitious target — to quadruple renewable power capacity to 175 gigawatts by 2022 as part of it’s plan to supply electricity to every household. He said India would seek to add 100 gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity, 60 gigawatts of wind power, 10 gigawatts of biomass and 5 gigawatts of hydro projects.
In his Budget 2016 speech, Jaitley informed that as on April 1, 2015, a total of 18,542 villages were not electrified. As on February 23, 2016, 5,542 villages have been electrified, which was more than the total combined achievement of previous three years, he said. He provided Rs 8,500 crore for Deendayal Upadhayaya Gram Jyoti Yojna and Integrated Power Development Schemes. In Budget 2017-18, he increased the allocation for Deendayal Upadhayaya Gram Jyoti Yojna to Rs 4,814 crore, a 25 per cent jump from the outlay in the previous fiscal.
Jaitley also announced an ambitious target — to quadruple renewable power capacity to 175 gigawatts by 2022 as part of it’s plan to supply electricity to every household. He said India would seek to add 100 gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity, 60 gigawatts of wind power, 10 gigawatts of biomass and 5 gigawatts of hydro projects.
In his Budget 2018 speech, Jaitley lauded the government’s efforts for providing electricity to all households of the country through the Prime Minister Saubhagya Yojana under which poor households are given free electricity connections. He said the government was spending Rs 16,000 crore under this scheme. He allocated Rs 3,800 crore for Deendayal Upadhayaya Gram Jyoti Yojna and Rs 4,900 crores for Integrated Power Development Scheme. He also allocated Rs 16,000 crore for the Saubhagya Yojana to enable last mile connectivity for rural households.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes
