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Rural electrification project launched

BERHAMPUR: Union Minister of State for Rural Development Chandrasekhar Sahu formally launched the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojna for Ganjam and Gajapati districts of south Orissa.

The central project for providing electricity to the poor will also be initiated in Puri, Baoudh, Rayagada and Kandhamal districts. Under the project, villages and households will be electrified with Central funds. The Centre will provide 90 per cent of the cost of the project, while the remaining amount be provided to the State government in the form of soft loans by the Centre.

National Hydroelectricity Corporation general manager D.K. Ray, Ramgiri MLA Bharat Paika, Gopalpur MLA Trinath Behera, Gajapati Zilal Parishad chairman Y. Ramchandrudu and his counterpart in Ganjam district, Dharanidhar Behera, attended the programme.

Mr. Sahu said the UPA government envisioned electrifying all villages in the country by 2009.

All Below Poverty Line (BPL) families would be provided electricity facility free of cost.

At every block where the new project would be initiated, 33 KV or 66 KV transformers would be installed.

The cost of the rural electrification project for Ganjam district would be Rs. 116.39 crores. Over 1.60 lakh BPL families in Ganjam and Gajapati districts would benefit by the project.

However, the project is being seen as a counter to the recent Biju Gramin Jyoti Yojna initiated by the State government independently to electrify villages in Orissa.

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