Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday ceremonially launched Saubhagya scheme besides opening a mobile app Sanjog at a programme held at Sonaram Higher Secondary School field in Guwahati.
The Chief Minister said that with the launch of this scheme electricity for all would be a reality in the state where remotest of villages would be electrified.
Saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched various schemes for uplifting underprivileged sections of the society and for enabling them to live a life of dignity, Sonowal said Saubhagya has also been launched to give every citizen the access to electricity which is one of the basic necessities of modern living.
“No village or urban area would be left out of the reach of electricity,” he said.
The Saubhagya scheme, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 25, 2017, will provide electricity connections to all households even in remotes of villages by 31st December, 2018 and cover 20.40 lakh remaining villages out of the ambit of electricity.
Households in inaccessible and hard to reach areas would be provided solar power packs (with battery bank) along with LED lights, fan, power plug etc with 5 year free maintenance support.
18.7 lakh rural households and 1.7 lakh households in urban areas would be covered under this scheme.
Beneficiaries of the scheme would be divided into three categories and those who fulfil the criteria for eligibility would be selected automatically for Saubhagya scheme.
The Chief Minister also launched “Sanjog” mobile app in the programme which can be used to apply for new power connections.
After registration in the app, APDCL would conduct camps in villages and panchayat level and approach the households for providing power connections.
Union Minister of State in charge of Power Department RK Singh said that Assam is making good progress in power sector and he expressed confidence that the state would be able to achieve the target of electrifying each and every village by December 31, 2018.
He also informed that the central government is bringing a legislation which would make it mandatory for the power companies to provide uninterrupted power supply 24 hours a day and they would also have to pay penalty for load-shedding.