‘Saubhagya’ For States: Centre To Reward Rs 100 Crore To Early Finishers Under Flagship Electrification Scheme

Ministry of Power has announced Rs 100 crore award for states which complete the household electrification before schedule under the Saubhagya scheme, Economic Times has reported.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched its flagship Saubhagya scheme with a budget of Rs 16,320 crore in September 2017. The scheme targets both rural and urban households to achieve 100 per cent electrification.

Apart from Power discoms, employees would also get Rs 50 lakh award collectively for completing the task.

"We have decided to award states for early completion of household electrification work under Saubhagya scheme," Power Minister R K Singh said. He was attending a meeting to review the scheme with state representatives in Delhi.

Under the scheme, there are three category of states which will compete with each other, Minister said. The scheme also includes special category states like northeastern states and other hilly states.

The states would be divided into two other broad categories, one where the number of households to be electrified are under five lakh and others where households to be electrified are more than five lakh.

Singh said that out of the Rs 50 lakh award for employees of a discom, Rs 20 lakh can be distributed among employees of its division for commendable work.

Singh also told that some states have achieved 99 per cent of the household electrification works and thus, will be kept out of this award scheme.