RK Singh Launches Award Scheme under ‘Saubhagya’

More than 1.65 crore households connected since the launch of Saubhagya.

RK Singh, Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, has launched an award scheme under Saubhagya to felicitate the DISCOMs/ Power Department of the States and their employees for achieving 100 percent household electrification in their areas of operation.

The Ministry of Power said in a statement that, these awards would be provided for achieving 100 percent household electrification at DISCOM/ Power Department level of the States.

Eight States which have already achieved more than 99 percent household electrification prior to launch of Saubhagya (Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu), are ineligible for participation under the award scheme.

All the remaining States and their Discoms are eligible for the award.

The award will be given in 3 categories, (i) DISCOMs / Power Departments of Special Category States (which includes seven North Eastern States, Sikkim, J&K and Uttarakhand); (ii) DISCOMs / Power Departments of other than Special Category States (which includes Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telengana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) having more than 5 Lakh un-electrified households and (iii) DISCOMs/ Power Departments of other than Special Category States having less than 5 Lakh un-electrified households.

Moreover, there will be 2 quantum of award in each of the 3 categories. Under 1st quantum of award, the 1st DISCOM/ Power Department to achieve 100 percent household electrification by November 30, 2018 would be provided cash award of Rs 50 Lakh.

The Principal Secretary (Energy/Power) of the State will devise the mechanism to distribute this cash prize amongst employees of the concerned DISCOM/ Power Department.

From this amount, Rs 20 Lakh will be given to the division of DISCOM/Power Department with highest number of households electrified.

Certificate of appreciation would also be given to five officials of concerned DISCOM/Power Department of any level from Managing Director to Lineman to be nominated by the Principal Secretary (Energy / Power) of the States.

The second quantum of award includes cash award of Rs 100 crore as grant to the concerned DISCOM/ Power Department to be spent in distribution infrastructure development in their area of operation. The Principal Secretary (Energy/Power) of the State will decide work to be executed from this amount.

Other DISCOM/Power Department of the States to achieve 100% household electrification by 31st December 2018 would also be provided certificate of appreciation for five officials of any level from Managing Director to Lineman to be nominated by the Principal Secretary (Energy / Power) of the States.

Government of India launched ‘Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana’ (Saubhagya) in Sept. 2017 to achieve the goal of universal household electrification in the country by March 31, 2019. The scheme envisages to provide last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all remaining households in rural as well as urban areas.

With the support of State Power Departments and DISCOMs more than 1.65 crore households have already been connected since the launch of scheme. All the States have shown confidence in achievement of the target much before the targeted timelines.