(a) whether each village of the country has been electrified, if so, the details thereof;
(b) the steps taken by the Government to provide continuous electricity supply to all these villages; and
(c) the measures taken by the Government to prevent electricity theft and improve transmission losses over distribution ?
THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR POWER
AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY
( SHRI R. K. SINGH )
(a) : As reported by the States, all the inhabited un-electrified census villages across the country stand electrified as on 28.04.2018.
(b) : The supply of electricity to villages falls under the jurisdiction of respective State Governments/Power Utilities. However, Government of India has taken a joint initiative with all the States/UTs for preparation of State specific documents for providing 24x7 power supply to all households, industrial & commercial consumers and adequate supply of power to agricultural consumers as per State policy. All the State Governments and Union Territories have signed the “24X7 Power For All” document to provide electricity to all from 1st April 2019. Government of India supplements the efforts of States through its various schemes including Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – Saubhagya and Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) .
(c) : Central Government has taken various steps for reduction of Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses. Government of India have launched Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) in December’14. The erstwhile Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) has been subsumed in IPDS. Under the scheme, central funding is provided for strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution networks in the urban areas and Metering of distribution transformers / feeders / consumers in the Urban areas, for reduction of distribution losses. Funds have also been sanctioned under IPDS for Under Ground (UG) cabling and Aerial Bunched (AB) cables, for reduction of theft incidents.
Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) have also been signed under Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) amongst State Governments/UTs, Power Distribution companies (DISCOMs) and the Ministry of Power, which inter-alia envisage Power Distribution companies (DISCOMs) to undertake various steps including campaign to control power theft.
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