Reaffirming his commitment to supply 24x7 power to all households in Odisha by March 2019, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today asked the authorities concerned to ensure that all the villages are electrified by May next year.
Patnaik issued the direction at a high level review meeting on rural electrification here.
"The Chief Minister has directed to cover all the villages in the state by May 2017 and all the households by March 2019," state Energy minister P P Das said.
Stating that 64 lakh households were electrified so far in the state, an official statement said at least 1,318 remaining villages would be provided with power by May 2017.
Interestingly, while replying to a question in the Assembly two days ago, the Energy minister had stated that of the 96.53 lakh households in the state, around 58.29 lakh have power connections.
Therefore, at least 38.24 lakh families remain without power connections, he said.
As per a 2011 census, Odisha has 47,677 villages.
Patnaik, however, asked the department to complete electrification in the districts like Kandhamal, Nuapada, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur on priority basis.
These four districts need to be totally electrified by February 2017, he said.
The BJD leader also said that the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe hostels should also get priority.
This apart, Patnaik said, the dedicated feeder installation work should start immediately and that the government has planned certain feeders for agriculture and fisheries activities.
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