Bhopal: The Union government has launched Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, to promote social harmony and apprises rural communities of various government welfare schemes and initiatives. The campaign was launched on April 14 and will continue till May 5 in 16000 villages across the country.
Madhya Pradesh Madhya Kshetra Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, managing director, Dr Sanjay Goel, inaugurated the campaign here by flagging off the UJALA van. The van will travel across 404 villages in the state spreading awareness about energy efficiency, energy conservation and will also distribute the LED bulbs. The LED bulbs to be distributed during the campaign will have the logo of Gram Swaraj Abhiyan on the boxes.
As part of this initiative, 16000 villages across with a significantly large number of low income households will be able to buy LED bulbs at a special price of Rs 50 under the Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) programme. The LED bulbs will equip homes with energy-efficient, cost-effective lighting, and higher lumen output than conventional incandescent bulbs.
Launched by the Prime Minister, UJALA programme promotes energy conservation by increasing the use of energy-efficient LED lighting at residential level. Implementing the UJALA programme, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a Super ESCO under the administrative control of Ministry of Power, Government of India, has distributed superior quality LED bulbs to domestic consumers, enabling them to achieve energy saving of up to 90 per cent, in comparison to incandescent bulbs.
The scheme has been readily adopted by all the states with the distribution of over 29 crore LED bulbs, This has brought down the annual household electricity bills by about 15 per cent, saving over Rs 16 billion every year of the consumers.
