Question : Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana–Saubhagya

(a) whether the Government has launched a new scheme called Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana “Saubhagya” to ensure electrification of all willing households in the country;

(b) if so, the details including features, expected outcome, funds sanctioned and the number of beneficiaries thereof

(c) whether the Government has launched web portal to register citizens for free electricity and for monitoring household electrification progress and if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether there are four crore un-electrified households in the country and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise; and

(e) the steps taken by the Government to provide ‘Electricity for All’ in the country?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR POWER, NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY AND THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

( SHRI R.K. SINGH)


(a) to (e) : Government of India launched Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – Saubhagya with an outlay of Rs.16,320 crore on October, 11, 2017. The salient features of the scheme are as under :

(i) Last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all un-electrified households in rural areas.

(ii) Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) based standalone systems for un-electrified households located in remote and inaccessible villages / habitations where grid extension is neither feasible nor cost effective.

(iii) Last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all remaining economically poor un-electrified households in urban areas. Non-poor urban households are excluded from this scheme.

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The expected outcome of the Scheme is as follows:

? Increased economic activities and jobs opportunities
? Improvement in children’s education
? Improvement in public safety through lighting
? Improvement in Health services
? Better quality of life , especially for women, in daily chores
? Substitution of kerosene & associated hardship.
? Access to communication(radio, television, mobiles, etc.)

To monitor the universal household electrification, the Saubhagya web-portal http://saubhagya.gov.in was launched in November, 2017. State Governments/Power Distribution utilities were asked to launch mobile apps to register applications and to expedite release of electricity connections.

As reported, States have declared Universal Electrification on Saubhagya Portal and 2.62 crore willing households were electrified across the country up to 31.03.2019 since launch of Saubhagya scheme, except 18,734 household in LWE affected area of Chhattisgarh.

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