The Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (SAUBHAGYA) program to electrify all willing households in the country in rural as well as urban areas using solar power was launched in Manipur on November 28, 2017. A total of approximately 1,75,000 households (1,62,000 rural households and 13,000 urban households) of Manipur are expected to be included under the program.

The program was launched by Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh and N. Biren Singh, Chief Minister of Manipur.

“Manipur is the fastest reforming state in power sector in the country and the Manipur Government is performing well in terms of power sector. It is the vision of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to provide electricity to every household of the country,” said R.K. Singh.

The Minister of Power promised that people would get 24×7 power supply by March 2019. For achieving this target, the Government has already given obligation to private companies to provide 24×7 power supply to every household, added Singh.

Singh assured that the Government of India would provide the required financial assistance for strengthening and improvement of infrastructure in the power sector in Manipur. Monetary assistance had already been extended for procuring of transformers, meters etc., to strengthen the power sector in the state, he added.

N. Biren Singh said that under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Saubhagya Scheme would transform the lives, especially poorest of the poor by providing power supply to every household of the country.

SAUBHAGYA program was launched to achieve universal household electrification in all parts of the India at a cost of Rs. 16,320 crores including Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of Rs. 12,320 crores from Government of India. To ensure the success of the program, the SAUBHAGYA web portal was launched to monitor the progress of household electrification in India.

Image credit: saubhagya.gov.in