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PM interacts with beneficiaries of Rural Electrification and Saubhagya Schemes across the country through video bridge

Published By : Admin | July 19, 2018 | 10:30 IST
It was unfortunate that even after 70 years of independence, over 18,000 villages remained in dark: PM Modi
In 2005, the UPA Govt promised to electrify every village by 2009. The then President of the ruling party went a step ahead & spoke about bringing electricity to every home. None of that happened: PM
From the ramparts of the Red Fort I had announced that every village will be electrified. We walked the talk and went to every village: PM
About 14,500 villages out of the 18,000 that had not been electrified, were in Eastern India. We have changed that: PM Modi

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today interacted with citizens from villages across the country which has been electrified since 2014. The interaction covered the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana - 'Saubhagya' scheme, through video bridge. This is the tenth interaction in the series by the Prime Minister through video conference with the beneficiaries of various Government schemes.

Expressing delight in interacting with the villagers from the recently electrified 18000 villages, Prime Minister said “People who have not seen darkness, don't understand the meaning of illumination. Those who have not spent their lives in the darkness don't realise the value of light. ”
Prime Minister during the interaction said that thousands of villages have been electrified since NDA government has taken over. He added that unlike the false promises given by the previous government, the present government has walked the talk of electrifying every village. The Government not only focused on electrification, but also reformed the distribution systems across the country, Prime Minister added.

These 18000 villages which were not electrified even after 70 years of independence were electrified in the last four years.The last one electrified was Leisang village of Manipur in the North east Sector on April 28, 2018. Narendra Modi said that it was difficult to electrify the last 18000 villages, as most were in remote areas, hilly areas and areas with poor connectivity. He added that despite all the difficulties, a dedicated team of people worked hard to ensure that the dream of electrifying every village is achieved.

Prime Minister pointed out that the government has changed the situation in Eastern India which had 14,582non- electrified villages out of 18,000 and out of which 5790 villages were in the North East. He added that the Government accords priority to the development of Eastern India and with complete electrification, now Eastern India can play an even bigger role in India's development journey.

Prime Minister said that Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana has been started with the objective of electrifying each and every house in the country. More than 86 lakh household has been electrified through the Yojana so far. The Yojana is in mission mode and will ensure electric connection to around four crore households.

Interacting with the Prime Minister, beneficiaries from far away villages explained electricity has transformed their lives forever. From completing work before the sunset and forcing children to study with kerosene lamps, electrification has made life very easily. Most beneficiaries said that the there has been an overall improvement in the quality of life. Beneficiaries also thanked the Prime Minister for bringing light into their houses.

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Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi chaired the 53rd meeting of PRAGATI, the ICT-enabled, multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, at Seva Teerth earlier today.

During the meeting, Prime Minister reviewed six key infrastructure projects across the Railway, Road and Power sectors, spanning nine States with a cumulative cost of more than ₹30,000 crore. The projects, significant for strengthening connectivity, supporting industrial and economic activity and improving public services, were reviewed with particular emphasis on adherence to timelines, inter-agency coordination, resolution of pending issues and expeditious completion.

Prime Minister emphasised that delays in infrastructure projects have consequences beyond cost escalation, as they also postpone the benefits intended for citizens, businesses and the economy. He said that infrastructure projects should be viewed and monitored as an integrated whole, rather than as isolated sections, stretches or packages. He noted that progress in individual packages should ultimately translate into timely completion and operationalisation of the entire project. Ministries and States were therefore asked to adopt an end-to-end approach, and address critical gaps that could delay the overall commissioning and delivery of benefits. He called for fostering a proactive work culture across Ministries and State Governments, with greater ownership at every level of project implementation.

Prime Minister stressed the need to explore common utility corridors for infrastructure services, wherever feasible, particularly while planning major transport and infrastructure projects. He called upon Ministries and States to examine such integrated approaches at the planning stage itself, keeping in view their technical and economic feasibility.

Prime Minister said that speed of execution must be accompanied by uncompromising quality. He called upon Ministries, States and implementing agencies to adopt modern technologies and strengthen quality assurance and supervision at every stage.

While reviewing AgriStack under the Digital Agriculture Mission, Prime Minister emphasised the need to leverage the latest digital technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, to derive greater value from agricultural data. He stressed that the data ecosystem should be effectively utilised across the agricultural value chain, from input planning to processing, enabling more informed interventions, better targeting and data-driven decision-making. He appreciated the efforts of the States and the Central Government in building the AgriStack ecosystem and called for further strengthening its use for delivering better outcomes for farmers.

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