Electricity in every household in Bengal by 2011

Kolkata, July 18 (UNI) Every household in West Bengal, including those in rural and far-flung areas, will have electricity connection by 2011, one year before the national target, State Power Minister Mrinal Banerjee said here today.

Replying to the debate on the demand for grants for his department, in the Assembly, Mr Banerjee claimed that in spite of a record 54.26 per cent increase in demand for electricity in the state during the past three decades, the ruling Left Front was committed to providing power to all 22,000 odd villages in the state by next year before carrying it to every household within the next three years.

Incidentally, the Union Power Minister had promised electricity for all by 2012.

Describing the huge increase in the demand for power in the state as unparalleled in India, Mr Banerjee, armed with latest government data, informed the House that contrary to Opposition's allegation, the overall power situation in West Bengal was far better than most of the states, including Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi.

He said while the peak hour demand for power in the state was increased by 36 per cent from 3957 MW in 2001-02 to over 4743 MW last year, during the same period the overall increase in its usage was from 16,124 million units to 24,936 million units.

Earlier, coming down heavily on the performance of the Power department, All India Trinamool Congress chief whip Sovandeb Chattopadhyay and his counterpart in the Congress Manas Bhunia alleged that despite having huge potential for hydro generation of power, the government was not doing enough to exploit it for improving the present power situation.

In their continued efforts to pin down the government, both Opposition leaders along with several other members charged it with suffering huge financial losses year after year for not exploring the true potential of hydro-electric power and non-conventional energy sources.

They also criticised the state government's failure in meeting the rural electrification target by providing electricity to only about 86 per cent villages compared to 100 per cent rural electrification as achieved by several other states like Haryana, Punjab and others.

Altogether 18 members representing all major political parties took part in the debate before it was passed through voice vote without accepting the Opposition-sponsored cut motion.

UNI ABA SJC/SRC PKS ND1846