SHILLONG:
In light of villages remaining to be covered under the Saubhagya Scheme (SS), deputy chief minister in-charge Power, Prestone Tynsong, on March 11, said that the issue will be taken up under the Reform Distribution System Scheme (RDSS) to ensure electrification of every village in Meghalaya.
“The Rural Electrification Commission (REC) is examining the detailed project report (DPR). Once completed, the report will go to the Ministry of Power for approval,” he said, responding to a query raised by Rangsakona legislator, Zenith Sangma asking when will the said villages come under the RDSS.
Tynsong further informed that the state was asked by the Power Ministry in 2017 to submit the DPR to implement the SS with an aim to reach out to the last-mile villages in the state. The government submitted the DPR that detailed the amount to Rs 1,914 crore through the REC, he added.
“The REC cut down the original DPR to Rs 1,189.58 crore, which was further reduced to Rs 657.05 crore under the SS. Until now, of that amount, we have utilised Rs 600.07 crore in implementing the scheme,” he said.
Reiterating that villages have been left out because of the massive reduction of the actual DPR, Tynsong said, “I assure you that the remaining villages will be covered during the second phase as the Centre has already sanctioned the RDSS to ensure each village is fully electrified.”
Citing the example of Bolgangre village in Garo Hills, the deputy chief minister maintained that there are 75 households in the village, out of which 33 are electrified, and 42 households are remaining to be covered because of “want of additional infrastructure”. Notably, the village was not in the list of villages in the SS.
Meanwhile, the deputy chief minister assured he will examine the request for setting up a sub-station at Chokpot.
