Every Bihari household to be lit up by end of next year
Katihar : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said that every household in the state would get electricity by the end of next year and exhorted people to start practising rational use of power to avoid fat bills. Survey work has been carried on households still not having power connection and the government would provide free electricity connection to all such households across Bihar by the end of 2017, Kumar said at the ‘Chetna Sabha’ here in course of his ‘Nishchay yatra.’
Power was an important election issue during the 2015 Bihar polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly made references to dismal power situation in the state almost in every rally he had addressed in Bihar at that time. Kumar has refuted the charges by stating that power situation had been continuously improving in the state with urban areas enjoying electricity on an average for 20 hours daily while rural areas have 14-15 hours of power.
Kumar also exhorted people to start practising rational use of electricity to avoid heavy power bills. “Sometimes, out of callousness, people forget to switch off lights after use. We should use electricity only when required and ensure that lights are switched off after use to avoid fat power bills,” Kumar said.
Providing free electricity connection to every household forms a part of “seven resolves” which the grand alliance government has adopted as the policy of “sushasan” (good governance) for rest of its term, he said.Kumarhadlaunched ‘Har ghar bijli lagataar’ programme on November 15 in Patna to achieve this target. Launching the key programme, the CM had promised to provide free electricity connection to about 50 lakh households above the poverty line deprived of power connection so far. The objective would be met at an investment of Rs 1857.5 crore.
The programme focuses on providing free power connection to 50 lakh households above the poverty line who are still deprived of power. Below Poverty Line (BPL) families are already covered in the rural electrification programme, Kumar said. The CM made it clear that the government would provide free electricity connection and not free power. Beneficiaries will have to pay for the power consumed by them, the chief minister said.Bihar has been improving on power front and according to the latest data the state has daily 3362
MW of power supply. Accompanied by ministers Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and state police chief P K Thakur, Kumar also talked about prohibition and urged to stand guard against illeagal liquortrade. – PTI
