Yojana_July2018_Unviversal Village Electrification

 Reference Article: Universal Village Electrification

Context:

The summary examines the progress of the DDUGJY in backdrop of commitment made by PM for electrifying remaining 18500 odd un-electrified villages in 1000 days

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana

• an integrated scheme covering all aspects of power distribution in rural areas
• erstwhile rural electrification scheme has been subsumed in DDUGJY as a separate rural electrification component
• Total Outlay: Rs75893 Crore; Gross Budgetary Support: Rs63027 Crore
• the scheme envisages:
  • electrification of un-electrified villages
  • intensive electrification of already electrified villages to provide access to households
  • strengthening and augmentation of sub-transmission and distribution infrastructure to improve quality and reliability of power supply
  • feeder separation to provide assured power supply to farmers
  • metering of feeders, distribution transformers and consumers to facilitate energy audit and reduction of losses

Planning & Strategy:

• Proper Identification of Villages:
  
  • all states requested to identify the remaining un-electrified villages with census code of 2011
  • having exact names, geographical locations, demography etc of the target villages
• Solar PV based off-grid solutions
  • many of the remaining un-electrified villages are located in remote areas with difficult terrain, deep forests etc
  • transportation and logistics becomes a major hurdle for creation of Power Infrastructure
  • such villages to be electrified through off-grid mode using Solar Photovoltaic based solutions
• Bidding Documents:
  • focus on standard bidding documents and e-tendering process
• Innovative Financing:
  • apart from Gross Budgetary Support, Ministry of Power to raise money from market
  • around Rs9000 crore were raised in last 2 financial year through instruments like 'Bonds' and through Financial Institutions like 'PFC' and 'REC'
  • Flexibility to state Governments
  • a strait jacket or a one size fits all approach may not work considering vast diversity of India
  • States therefore were given adequate liberty to execute the projects
  • a step in right direction in spirit of Cooperative federalism
• Handholding States/DISCOMS
  • necessary help provided to state DISCOMS wherever required
  • Nodal Agency (REC) opened its office in almost all states, and deputed senior officers to interact and aid the state governments on daily basis for quick execution
  • Gram Vidyut Abhiyanta (GVA) appointed by REC at block/district level to assist them in monitoring and expeditious implementation
  • GVAs are graduate engineers from local areas to assist DISCOMs in extensive field monitoring
• Milestone based Monitoring
  • entire process divided in 12 steps/milestones with stipulated timelines for monitoring and capturing progress.
  • the milestones include entire process right from the award of work, survey, material procurement, material delivery at site, erection and commissioning and energisation etc
• Transparency and Accountability
  • mobile app:"GARV" launched to ensure transparency and public dissemination of information
  • such a public disclosure of information has also created an environment of enhanced accountability in the system
• Regular Review and Monitoring:
  • A system established at Central Level, State Level and DISCOM Level for review and monitoring
  • Regional Review Meetings also held for better coordination and Project Management
  • issues impeding the progress are highlighted in such reviews and resolved at earliest

Progress:

• Village electrification has improved exponentially during 2015-16: 7,108 Villages electrified
• the progress was more than cumulative progress of previous 3 years:
• 2012-13: 2587 Villages
• 2013-14: 1197 Villages
• 2014-15: 1405 Villages

*1271 villages found uninhabited or in grazing reserve

Implementation Challenges and Remediation:

• Most of the remaining villages were located in remote and inaccessible areas with difficult hilly terrain, deep forest, LWE affected etc
• Connectivity and accessibility of the villages acted as major hurdle

Evaluative Remark:

• Support of States, DISCOMS, contractors, vendors, equipment manufacturers and people of the states significantly aided in timely completion of the commitment

What next:

• next target would be to electrify all households in the country
• "Pradhan Mantri Sahaj bijli Har Ghar Yojana" launched  to achieve this objective
• it seeks to provide last mile connectivity and service connections to all remaining households in both rural and Urban areas 
• target is to achieve it by 31st March 2019

By: Chandan Sharma