Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the initiative to electrify 18,452 villages in 1,000 days – by May 2018. Recently Power Minister Piyush Goyal too had said the government would meet its target of electrifying 18,452 villages by March next year, much ahead of the May 2018 deadline as over a third of the task has been completed already. But when it comes to total electrification of Jammu and Kashmir targets are yet far off and much more is expected from the agencies involved in power distribution service. The Rural Electrification Plan 2012-17, envisages to achieve provision of access to electricity for all households, quality and reliable power supply at reasonable rates and minimum lifeline consumption of one unit per household per day as a merit good. As per the survey of the 24,655 habitations only 13,649 of them are electrified. Similarly 6,554 villages, out of 6,657 total, are electrified. Therefore, the number of left out villages and inhabitations, which are not electrified, is 103 and 11,006, respectively. Out of 103 un-electrified villages, 73 shall be electrified from grid source whereas 30 others, located in Ladakh region, shall be electrified through non-grid sources. Electrification of inaccessible villages will be done through stand alone systems and non-conventional sources. In the entire J and K, there are total 15 such hamlets in Poonch District, which will be electrified through non-grid sources under the project funded by Union Ministry of Non-Conventional and Renewable Energy (MNRE). This project has been entrusted to J&K Department of Science and Technology. The central scheme Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) envisages 100 per cent electrification of entire rural India. It is not a small project considering the population and the area of the country. Obviously, Jammu and Kashmir, being one of the states of the Union, also comes within the purview of the scheme. But as it happens, even this scheme that has immense relevance to the development of the State is also fallen a victim of official
apathy and lack of interest.
