The Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) was launched in Manipur recently at the hands of Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh and N. Biren Singh, Chief Minister of Manipur.
A total of approximately 1.75 lakh households including 1.62 lakh rural and 0.13 lakh urban households of Manipur are proposed to be included under the scheme.
The Union power minister also assured that the Central government would provide the required financial assistance for strengthening and improvement of infrastructure in the power sector in Manipur. Monetary assistance had already been extended for procuring of transformers, meters etc. to strengthen the power sector in the state.
R.K. Singh further said that it is the vision of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to provide electricity to every household of the country.
Under the Saubhagya scheme, the government envisages power connection to every household. This is such a scheme where the poorest of the poor can afford 24×7 electricity in their homes, by March, 2019.
Saubhagya is a scheme launched to achieve universal household electrification in all parts of the country at a cost of Rs.16,320 crore including Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of Rs.12,320 crores from Government of India. Keeping in view the role of electricity in human and socio-economic development, Government of India has formulated the scheme to ensure last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all remaining un-electrified urban and rural households in the country. All states and Union Territories of the country are required to complete household electrification in their respective jurisdiction by March 31, 2019, a government release said.
Photo: Illustrative photograph of a typical Manipuri village
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