Good on paper, but lacking quite a bit on ground

The Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) is one flagship programme of the UPA government where the entire budgeted allocation of Rs 33,000 crore has been committed, but the desired result is still elusive.

RGGVY, a component of Bharat Nirman, was launched in April 2005 with a mandate to electrify 100,000 villages and release electricity connections to 2.3 crore rural BPL households in five years. Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) is the nodal agency for the programme through which projects can be financed with 90 per cent capital subsidy for rural electricity distribution backbone, creation of village electrification infrastructure and decentralised distributed generation and supply.

According to the Union power ministry, 90,593 previously un-electrified villages have been electrified and 171,731 villages were intensely electrified as on January 27, under the RGGVY. Free electricity connections were provided to 14,316,000 below-poverty-line (BPL) households and 110,567 villages were covered under franchisee development in 16 states. A total of 573 projects with an estimated outlay of Rs 26,353 crore have been sanctioned and total capital subsidy of Rs 22,125 crore released by the government.

The ministry has asked for another Rs 6,000 crore for the RGGVY and they seem likely to get it in the coming budget. The programme may be on course in terms of allocation, spending and creation of infrastructure but even in areas covered by the RGGVY, theare are big gaps. Though 89,675 villages were electrified till December 31, 2010, only 73,678 villages were energised. Major gaps have been noticed in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa.

Another area of concern is establishment of franchisees. The franchisee establishment is considered essential for commercial viability of rural electrification. It has been made mandatory in RGGVY. Though 260,000 villages have been electrified under the programme, franchisees have been appointed in only 66,646. Arunanchal Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, J&K, Kerala, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Orissa, Sikkim, Tripura and Tamil Nadu have not appointed franchisees in any RGGVY villages.

GOALS AND ACTUAL WHAT STATE UTILITIES DID ON VILLAGE ELECTRIFICATION DURING 2010-11 (UP TO THIRD QUARTER)
State	Implementing  agency	Targets 2010-11  (up to third qtr)	Achievement	%  Achievement
Assam	ASEB	Mar-05	2,053	107.9
Bihar	BSEB	Jul-04	247	14.8
Jharkhand	JSEB	350	32	9.1
Arunachal Pradesh	Power Deptt.	540	226	41.9
Himachal Pradesh	HPSEB	50	13	26
Jammu & Kashmir	Power Deptt	34	16	47-1
Karnataka	DISCOMs	25	1	4.0
Madhya Pradesh	State Discoms	125	149	119.2
Manipur	Power Deptt	109	76	69.7
Meghalaya	MeSEB	12	13	108.3
Mizoram	Power Deptt	55	25	45-5
Nagaland	Power Deptt	50	36	72.0
Rajasthan	State Discoms	785	433	55-2
Sikkim	Power Deptt	7	14	200
Tripura	TSECL	42	28	66.7
Total		5,758	3,362	58.4
Source: Background Papers, Annual Conference of Chief Secretaries

With this, state utilities being slow in village electrification has been a problem. State utilities were given a target to electrify 5,758 villages for the first three quarters of 2010-2011. They electrified 3,362 villages (58 per cent) by December 31, 2010. Most state utilities, especially of Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, J&K, Karnataka, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan and Tripura have shown slow progress.

Similarly, many state utilities have also been slow in releasing BPL connections. They were given a target of releasing 2,609,000 BPL connections for the first three quarters of 2010-2011. They had achieved 2,043,000 (78 per cent) by December 31, 2010.