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On-Paper electrification does not give power to villages in Hathras
Nagla Fatela in Hathras district is not the only village in Uttar Pradesh that has been declared as electrified only on paper.
The power ministry has found that 20 of the 25 villages in the district have been declared as energised by the power distribution utility but the households do not have connections.
The ministry has found gross violations of the terms on which funds were released to Uttar Pradesh for rural electrification under the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana, a senior government official said.
Nagla Fatela came into the limelight after media reports highlighted that the village, referred to as electrified by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech, did not have electricity access.
The PM had said that although the village was only three hours away from Delhi, it took 70 years for electricity to reach there. During field visits conducted by Rural Electrification Corporation’s engineers, called gram vidyut abhiyantas, on August 18-19, it was found that though new infrastructure has been laid, electricity connections have not been released by Dakshin Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd, a unit of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd.
The distribution utility has certified all 25 villages as energised. Most of the households in the 20 villages in Hathras district have illegal, unmetered electricity connections, the official said.
The Centre is carrying out field verification in all 1,450-odd villages declared as electrified by Uttar Pradesh through central assistance.Uttar Pradesh’s principal energy secretary and Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation chairman Sanjay Agarwal was not available for comments.
“Most new infrastructure in these villages is lying idle as the lines have not been charged due to lack of clearance from electoral engineers. Also, we have found that in Uttar Pradesh contractors are paid on erection of infrastructure, while under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana the payments can be made only after releasing connections and continous energisation,” the official said.
Rural Electrification Corporation last week wrote a letter to Uttar Pradesh’s principal energy secretary, asking the power distribution companies in the state to avoid such discrepancies.
The corporation also sought directions to distribution companies in the state and electoral inspectorate for immediate continuous energisation and release of connections from the new infrastructure Bobby Wagner Womens Jersey
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