UP govt electrifies over 121,000 new villages in four years: Minister

121,000 'majras' have been electrified in UP and the Yogi Adityanath government is dedicated to quickly electrifying the remaining 36,990 villages with cooperation from Centre, said Energy Minister

More than 1.21 lakh 'majras' have been electrified in Uttar Pradesh and the Yogi Adityanath government is dedicated to quickly electrifying the remaining 36,990 villages with cooperation from the Centre, said Energy Minister AK Sharma on Wednesday.

In response to a question raised during the Question Hour session in the Vidhan Sabha, he said, "In October 2022, we had written a letter to the Central Government regarding this and it is expected that soon this process will be completed and the remaining villages will also be provided with electricity supply."

The Energy Minister said that after coming to power, the Yogi government has shown readiness to provide basic facilities to the rural areas.

"Work is being prioritised because there was a lot of unfinished work from the previous government. Under this, the state government has completed the electrification of revenue villages. At the same time, a total of 1,21,324 'majras' have been electrified. This process is going on continuously. Information regarding the remaining areas that need to be electrified is available. On October 18, 2022, we sent a letter to the Union Energy Minister requesting his cooperation with this," said Sharma.

He further said that the electrification will be done with Rs 2,000 crores.

"In the letter written to the Union Energy Minister, it has been stated that approximately 18,818 majras of Purvanchal, approximately 12,372 majras of Madhyanchal, and approximately 5710 majras of Dakshinanchal are estimated to be left with a total of 36,900 majras," he said.

"As far as the cost of proposed electrification in all DISCOMs is concerned, a total demand of Rs 1958 crore has been made from the Government of India, including Rs 758 crore for Purvanchal, Rs 516 crore for Dakshinchal. We plan to include the rest of the majras under the RDSS scheme. Union Energy Minister has given his consent on this. It is expected that soon all the majras in the state will be electrified", he added.