337 villages electrified last week

New Delhi, March 21: A total of 337 villages in 12 states were electrified during last week, ending March 20, under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna, an official statement said on Monday.

"Of these electrified villages, 67 are in Odisha, 49 in Jharkhand, 66 in Uttar Pradesh, 30 in Arunachal Pradesh, 41 in Bihar, 49 in Assam, 12 in Chhattisgarh, 9 in Madhya Pradesh, 11 in Rajasthan and one each in Himachal Pradesh, Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir," said a power ministry statement, adding that a total of 6,816 villages have been electrified during 2015-16 till date.

The government has decided to electrify the remaining 18,452 un-electrified villages by May 1, 2018, it said.

"Out of the remaining 11,636 villages, 7,976 villages are to be electrified through grid, 3,205 villages are to be electrified through off-grid, where grid solutions are out of reach due to geographical barriers, and 455 villages are to be electrified by the state governments," the statement added.

IANS