*CS assures coverage of remaining villages by Apr 25
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 16: Union Cabinet Secretary, Pradeep Kumar Sinha today reviewed the status of implementation of the rural electrification programme with the Chief Secretaries of various States.
Chief Secretary J&K, B B Vyas also attended the meeting through video conferencing. Commissioner Secretary, Power Development Department, Hirdesh Kumar was also present on the occasion.
Giving details of the progress made so far under the programme to electrify the un-electrified villages in the State, the Chief Secretary informed that works are underway for their timely completion as desired by the Prime Minister.
He informed the Cabinet Secretary that to take the material to the hilly areas of Kishtwar district, Indian Air Force was requested who conducted 29 sorties to dump the material to the required places.
The Cabinet Secretary urged the States including J&K to complete the electrification of all remaining villages by or before ending April 2018.
B B Vyas ensured the Cabinet Secretary that all remaining works will be completed by April 25 thus declaring these villages electrified.
It was given out in the meeting that out of 102 un-electrified villages in Kishtwar, Ramban, Reasi, Kupwara, Bandipora, Leh and Kargil districts, the grid task was time consuming in 55 villages because of difficult terrain.
Later, a project was proposed by the State Government which was accepted by GoI to provide solar power to these villages including solar panel, batteries, fan, bulbs and street lights.
Under the programme, out of 102 villages, 45 were electrified on grid by March 31 and 3 villages were found uninhabited in Kupwara district.
In remaining 55 villages, works in 18 villages have been completed till date and were electrified with solar power. Installation work of solar system in individual household in rest of the villages is underway.
The Chief Secretary B B Vyas asked the Commissioner Secretary Power Development Department Hirdesh Kumar to constitute the teams to monitor the pace of the works to ensure their completion on the given time.
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