All households to have electricity by March 31: Singh

The government aims to complete electrification of all households across the country well before the March 31 deadline, R K Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) and Renewable Energy, said on Tuesday.

So far, nearly 192,000 households remain without access to electricity. Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Assam and Meghalaya are the last four states to finish electrification programme, he said.

The minister said the government has revived nine stressed power assets of 11,400 megawatt capacity. Currently, a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is examining recommendations of the Cabinet Secretary panel to ease stressed units in the power sector.

Singh said the final draft on tariff policy is ready and will soon be taken up by the Union Cabinet.

In November 2015, the government launched Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY), an ambitious scheme to improve the financial health and operational efficiency of debt-ridden power distribution companies (discoms).

The government is now considering its improved version -- called Uday 2.0 -- which is in early stages of formulation. This will eventually increase transmission and metering efficiencies.

Singh said the draft on Uday 2.0 will soon be sent to the Finance Ministry for feedback.

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