Govt should electrify villages with less than 100 population:

The government should come up with a blue print so that electrification of all villages/hamlets can be done irrespective of the number of households they have, a parliamentary committee said today.
The Standing Committee on Energy in its report submitted in the Lok Sabha on implementation of Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), said the government should undertake electrification for all villages/ hamlets even if each had a population of less than 100.
The motto of RGGVY was to provide access to electricity to all by 2009.
Under the X and XI Five Year Plans, villages with a population of 300 were considered for implementation of this scheme and also electrification of these villages. The government, however, decided to broaden the scope and include villages above the population of 100.

"This amounts to non-consideration of villages/ hamlets with a population less than 100. It has been envisaged that the programme will run through XII Five year Plan (2012-2017). It is clear that even by 2017, villages having population of less than 100 will not be considered under RGGVY," the committee said.
It further stated the government should come up with a plan to electrify these villages.
"It is strongly recommended that the government should come up with a blue print for implementation of the scheme in letter and spirit so that electrification of all villages, irrespective of the number of households, can be done and free connections to all BPL households be provided," the committee said.