Over 100 more villages electrified; total reaches 7,549

New Delhi, May 2: As many as 104 more villages have been electrified across the country over the past few days, taking the total tally to 7,549, government said today.

It has set a target of reaching power to 18,452 un-electrified villages by May 1, 2018. The Power ministry said in a statement that "104 villages have been electrified across the country during last week (from 25th April to 1st May 2016) under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna (DDUGJY)".

Of these electrified villages, 17 villages belong to Arunachal Pradesh, 17 in Assam, 16 in Jharkhand, 10 in Rajasthan, four in Bihar, four in Chhattisgarh, 16 in Odisha, seven in Madhya Pradesh, four in Manipur, seven in Uttar Pradesh and two in Himachal Pradesh, the statement added.

The project has been taken on a mission mode and strategy for electrification of villages consists of squeezing the implementation schedule to 12 months and dividing the process in 12 stage milestones with defined timelines for monitoring.

The statement further said: "7,549 villages have been electrified till date." In order to expedite the progress further, a close monitoring is being done through Gram Vidyut Abhiyanta (GVA) and various actions are also being taken on a regular basis, it added.

PTI