Lok Sabha Question No. 337 (STARRED), answered on 2023-03-23
Subject: Electricity Supply in Rural Areas
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: Gajendra Singh Patel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF POWER LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.337 ANSWERED ON 23.03.2023

ELECTRICITY SUPPLY IN RURAL AREAS

† *337. SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH PATEL:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

(a) the details of the efforts being made/proposed to be made by the Government to provide electricity supply in rural areas;

(b) the details of the major schemes being run/proposed to be run by the Government to provide electricity in hilly and remote areas;

(c) whether any new policy is proposed by the Government to provide adequate and continuous supply of electricity to the farmers and if so, the details thereof; and

(d) the details of the efforts being made/proposed to be made by the Government to provide electricity in the aspirational districts?

A N S W E R

THE MINISTER OF POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY

(SHRI R.K. SINGH)

(a) to (d) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) IN RESPECT OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 337 FOR REPLY ON 23.03.2023 REGARDING ELECTRICITY  SUPPLY  IN  RURAL  AREAS  ASKED  BY  SHRI  GAJENDRA  SINGH PATEL

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(a) & (b) :   Government of India assists the States through its plethora of schemes  like  Deen  Dayal  Upadhyaya  Gram  Jyoti  Yojana  (DDUGJY), Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana  (UDAY),  SAUBHAGYA,  RDSS  etc.  to  help  them  to  achieve  the objective of providing uninterrupted power supply to all the households.

All  the  States  and  the  Union  Territories  (UTs)  have  signed MoUs with the Central Government, to ensure 24x7 power supply w.e.f. 1 st  April, 2019 onwards. Many States and UTs claim to supply 24x7 power other  than  the  planned  outages  and  interruptions  due  to  unforeseen events.

Under the aegis of SAUBHAGYA, a total 2.86 crore households have been electrified.

Recently,  Government  of  India  have  launched  the  Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), with an outlay of Rs.3,03,758 Crores and an estimated GBS of Rs.97,631 Crores from the Central Government. This  Scheme  has  been  formulated  with  the  objective  of  improving  the quality  and  reliability  of  power  supply  to  the  consumers  through  a financially sustainable and operationally efficient Distribution Sector for strengthening of supply infrastructure across the country including rural, urban, hilly and remote areas.

Fresh construction of new households is a continuous process and  electrification  of  such  households  is  to  be  taken  care  of  by  the Distribution  Utilities.  The  Government  of  India  is  committed  to  extend financial assistance to the States to electrify any remaining households which existed at the time of launch of SAUBHAGYA.  In this regard, the States may submit their request for electrification of remaining households, as per the approved guidelines, under the RDSS.

(c) : The segregation of remaining agriculture feeders where agriculture load is more than 30% has been envisaged under the RDSS. Under this Scheme,  the States are encouraged  to segregate the agriculture feeder from mixed feeders, thereby providing reliable power supply to agriculture consumers and facilitate proper energy accounting. A  convergence  with  KUSUM  has  also  been  envisaged,  while  issuing sanctions  under  the  RDSS.  Till  date,  Rs.29,945.29  crores  has  been sanctioned for segregation of agricultural feeders.

(d) : Till  date,  under  the  RDSS,  DPRs  amounting  to  Rs.1,19,134 crores have been sanctioned, including Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of Rs.75,884  crores.  Out  of  total  sanction,  as  proposed  by  State/Discoms, Rs.14,509 crores has been sanctioned for Aspirational Districts of all the States  (excluding  Odisha,  Karnataka  and  Telangana)  for  works  like HVDS, cabling, feeder segregation etc.

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