The Orissa government is all set to launch a new scheme called the Biju Saharanchal Bidyutikaran Yojana (BSBY) to provide electricity to the people living in un-electrified areas, mostly in the slums, in the urban local bodies (ULB) of the state.
“The BSBY, a scheme to be funded by the state government will be implemented in all the 103 urban local bodies in the state and the government has made a budgetary provision for the same in the Vote-on-Account for 2010-11”, P K Jena, the state energy secretary said here.
The state government has allotted Rs 18-crore for implementation of the new electricity scheme. While each Notified Area Council (NAC) will be provided Rs 30 lakh under the scheme, each municipality and corporation will get Rs 50 lakh and Rs one crore respectively. There are three corporations, 33 municipalities and 67 NACs in the state.
Jena said,” Tenders would be floated for execution of the BSBY after the power distribution companies estimate the cost of the project. The project estimation will be done after the district electricity committee approves the scheme.” He was addressing the executive officers and the commissioners of the urban local bodies at Chhatrapur in Ganjam district recently. The Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department of the state government is formulating the guidelines for implementation of the scheme, he said.
Once the guideline is ready, it will be issued to the district collectors for implementation.
The new scheme is being launched by the state government keeping in view several slum pockets in the urban areas and the adjoining villages which are deprived of power supply. It may be noted that the state government has already launched the Biju Gramya Jyoti Yojana (BGJY) for providing electricity to the villages and hamlets.
The BGJY covers those villages and hamlets which were not covered under the Centrally sponsored Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyuti Karana Yojana (RGGVY). BGJY is being implemented in the state to ensure electricity to all villages and habitations having a population of less than 100. The programme has targeted to cover 10,000 villages and habitations during the 11 the Plan (2007-12). The state government has allotted Rs 50 crore in the Vote-on-Account presented in March this year for implementation of the BGJY.
