Meghalaya has become the latest state to become a participant of the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojna (SAUBHAGYA) program, which aims to provide last-mile connectivity to all willing households in India by 2018.

The program was launched by the state’s Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, and Minister of Power R. K. Singh, in the presence of Meghalaya Power Minister, James P. K. Sangma.

Under the program, there will be no upfront fee for availing electricity connection as well as no charges for poor households.

Attended the Launch of SAUBHAGYA in Meghalaya along with the state's Chief Minister, Shri @SangmaConrad and Power Minister, Shri James Sangma, in Shillong. Through the scheme, lives of the people of Meghalaya will be illuminated and would ensure a brighter future for the state. pic.twitter.com/0lhkURkfhP

— R. K. Singh (@RajKSinghIndia) April 20, 2018

Meghalaya became the fifth state after Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, and Jammu and Kashmir to join the SAUBHAGYA program. In Meghalaya, there are 139,267 unelectrified households as of today.

The SAUBHAGYA rural electrification program was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017 with the goal of providing electricity connections to all households, including the most remote villages, by the end of this year.

The national SAUBHAGYA program was launched at a total cost of ₹163.20 billion ($2.54 billion), including Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of ₹123.20 billion ($1.92 billion) from the central government. To ensure the success of the program, the SAUBHAGYA web portal was launched late last year to monitor the progress of household electrification.

As of December 2017, around 2,217 villages had not yet seen the lights turn on in their homes, and the central government plans to electrify those remaining villages by May 2018.

The Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC) is the implementing agency of the SAUBHAGYA program.

Image credit: R.K. Singh via Twitter