Over 8,000 villages targeted for electrification this financial year

Over 8,000 villages have been targetted for electrification during the current financial year, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal said during Question Hour that 8,360 villages are targeted for electrification during the current financial year.

He said as reported by the states, as on April 1, 2015 there were 18,452 un-electrified census villages in the country. Of these, 9126 un-electrified villages are yet to be electrified as on July 31.

For electrification of all villages, a time-bound implementation schedule has been drawn up and divided into 12 'milestones' which are monitored at multiple levels.

Under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna, free electricity connections to 7,59,377 and 14,39,144 below poverty line households have been released during 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively, he said.