More Villages under Mhara Gaon, Jagmag Scheme

Haryana Polity and Governance

Published on: 31-Aug-18
1407 views

The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has included 51 more villages of the Karnal district under the Mhara Gaon, Jagmag Gaon scheme.

Facts :

Now, the total number of villages in Karnal district which joined ’24 hour supply club’ has been 152 from previous 101 villages.
These villages have reduced line losses to less than 22 per cent.
Still 230 remaining villages of the district are to be covered. And the deadline for this is March 31, 2019.
Under the scheme, a village will get 24-hour power supply if 90 per cent of its residents pay bills, lines losses are reduced to less than 22 per cent and all meters are shifted outside the houses.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had launched the Mhara Gaon, Jagmag Gaon scheme from Dyalpur village in Kurukshetra district on July 1, 2015.

Analysis :

Superintending Engineer (SE), Karnal Circle, UHBVN, said, “We faced stiff opposition from the public during the initial stage of the scheme. But after a public connect programme and other initiatives, including ‘Bijli Rath Yatra’, were launched, the UHBVN received a good response.”
The UHBVN has been facing heat from residents of Salwan, Dadupur, Sirsi, Picholia and other villages of Assandh block as they are opposing the shifting of meters outside their houses.
The discom has managed to pacify residents of Gonder and Badota villages.
To achieve the target by March 2019, several duties have been assigned to private companies.
About 125 more villages will be covered under the scheme by December 2018.
With more villages covered under Mhara Gaon, Jagmag Gaon scheme the power discoms in the state will be in profitable state and will provide adequate electricity to the people.

Mhara Gaon, Jagmag Gaon scheme :

The scheme was initiated by the Haryana Government in July 2015 to provide 24 hours power supply to villages on the pattern of power supply in urban areas.
Under the scheme, entire rural areas of five districts- Panchkula, Gururgram, Ambala, Faridabad and Sirsa are being given 24 hours power supply.
The villages adopted under the scheme, the Nigam is replacing the old and faulty electricity meters with modern meters, old and worn-out wires with Aerial Bunched cable and if required transformers would also be replaced.
For all these works, the expenditure would be borne by the Nigams.
After all these works, the villages where the line losses reduce to less than 20 percent, the power supply of those villages will be increased to 24 hours daily.
The scheme will help in improving the electricity bill collections, which, in turn will reduce huge accumulated losses of power utilities.
The scheme shall be implemented in phases and will benefit 83 rural domestic supply feeders. It shall cover 310 villages in total.
The scheme will be launched in only those villages where there is minimal power supply theft.
Another criterion for the launch is that the line losses shouldn't be more than 20 percent, provided the consumers deposit their electricity bill on time.
The scheme promises to provide electricity for 16 hours a day, which will be further extended to 18 hours.
The power supply hours will be increased by the replacement of defective meters, shifting the existing meters outside consumers' houses and replacement of faulty wires.
Power supply hours are expected to increase by 3 hours with the improvement of billing, payments, and line losses below 20 percent. 24 hours non-stop supply is also expected with further improvement in these parameters as aimed by the Scheme.
To strengthen power distribution system, along with this scheme, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana has also been launched costing around 2,000 crore.
The state-owned power utilities have accumulated losses to the tune of 24,000 crore.
A 'BIjli Panchayat' will be organised in all the villages. In this panchayat, the officers of electricity department will be present to resolve the complaints of consumers.
Also, special emphasis will be given to generate renewable energy by installing solar panels on roof tops.