All villages in Meghalaya to be electrified in 5 yrs

Shillong, Mar 20 (UNI) Meghalaya is proposed to be fully electrified within the next five years, Deputy Chief Minister in-charge of Power department,Dr Donkupar Roy, today said.

Dr Roy, however, said the proposal depended on availability of funds.

So far, a total of 3,806 villages in the state have been electrified under the Rural Electrification Scheme and 1,976 villages were yet to be covered, he informed the Assembly.

The Minister also admitted that 356 villages, earlier declared as electrified, were yet to be supplied with power.

He did not elaborate on the reason for the lapse even as he assured the House that all ''de-electrified villages'' in the state would be brought under the Rural Electrification Scheme.

About 55,224 beneficiaries under below poverty line (BPL) category have been supplied with electricity under the Kutirjyoti Scheme, Dr Roy said.

Informing that 90 per cent of the funds for electrification came through Central grants, Dr Roy said the remaining 10 per cent was contributed by the state government. The money received for the last three years was Rs 1921.55 lakhs in 2003-04, Rs 3828.13 lakhs in 2004-05 and Rs 968.50 lakhs in the current fiscal.

The deputy Chief Minister further informed that the state was yet to receive funds under the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vaidyutikaran Yojana.

With the Meghalaya State Electricity Board (MeSEB) generating only 185 MW of electricity at present, which falls much short of the actual demand, Roy expressed hope that the deficit in power would be met to a large extent with the commissioning of the ambitious Leishkha-Myntdu hydel project and other mini hydel projects in the state in about a couple of years.

Dr Roy assured the House that the government was taking all possible steps to augment the supply of electric power in the state and also increase the generation capacity of the state electricity board.

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