Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said his government was targeting achieving 24X7 power supply across the country by 2022, noting it was key to implementing various government schemes to take the country forward.
In an interaction with students from across the country on the eve of Teachers' Day, Modi said 18,000 villages still do not have electricity and he has issued directives to get them all electrified in the next 1,000 days.
"My dream is that by 2022, when country celebrates the 75th independence day, 24x7 electricity is available in all homes. I am working in this direction to free the homes of darkness," Modi said.
The country's installed power generation capacity is about 3 lakh Mega Watt, including electricity generated from renewable sources.
The electricity generation target for the year 2015-2016 was fixed at 1,137 billion units, a growth of around 8.47 per cent over actual generation of 1,048 billion units in 2014-2015. Almost all the states in India have been struggling with increasing gap between power demand and supply.
The Prime Minister said 'Digital India march' cannot be stopped and it can continue with solar power also.
This is for the second year the Prime Minister interacted with students on the occasion of Teachers' Day which is celebrated on September 5 to mark the birth anniversary of India's second president and philosopher Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan.
Eight hundred students and 60 teachers from schools in Delhi participated in the event held at the Manekshaw auditorium here. Students from nine other states participated through video conference.
