Number of households electrified under Saubhagya | Clarification

The Government of India launched ‘Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana’ (Saubhagya) in Sept. 2017 to achieve the goal of universal household electrification in the country by 31st March 2019. The scheme envisages last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all remaining households. The Government is implementing the Scheme with the support of State Power Departments / State DISCOMs and the projects are being executed by the concerned State Power Departments / State DISCOMs.

At the time of launch of the Scheme, the States reported that about 4 crore households were un-electrified as on 10.10.2017. This was an estimate based on census figures. The States uploaded their data on Saubhagya portal (saubhagya.gov.in) created for the purpose of regular monitoring of the progress on household electrification under the scheme. Data is uploaded on the portal by the State Power Departments / State DISCOMs regularly based on field reports of progress of household electrification under the scheme.

When the electrification teams of the States went to the villages, they found that the number of houses left for electrification in most villages was less than that estimated by them. This was mostly on two counts –

(i)         many census households were living together and availing electricity services together with single connection, and

(ii)        many households have already availed connections in the process of village electrification and intensive electrification under ongoing scheme of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and States’ scheme.

As more and more villages were visited by the teams, the figures of the houses to be electrified and those electrified were updated on the basis of actual.

It may be reiterated that the Government is committed to providing electricity to each and every willing household in the country. All States have been requested to launch a special campaign in all parts of the State to identify any left out un-electrified households and to provide electricity connections to such households. Under the campaign, a special vehicle ‘Saubhagya Rath’, is moving around in villages/towns and any left out households may approach them to avail electricity connection under the scheme. A dedicated toll free helpline 1800-121-5555 has also been launched for the purpose of reporting any left out households. This is in addition to already existing helpline of 1912. Governance is all about providing the services to the citizens.