Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday slammed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over his claims of electrification of rural areas in Bihar, saying the state performed worst in eastern India.
"A survey in the eastern states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Bihar states that Bihar performs the poorest among the states surveyed, most importantly when the survey considered electrification of the rural areas," Goyal told the media here.
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"The survey data indicates that only 20 percent of the rural household use electricity as their primary source of lighting in Bihar," he added.
Questioning Nitish's claims on providing electricity in 29,000 villages, Goyal said the truth is that only electric polls have been installed in these villages.
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"Transformer distribution lines were also made but whether those transformers worked or not was never considered," he added.
Goyal also slammed the grand alliance of JD (U), RJD and Congress for their false claims on electricity, saying they provided electricity to ten percent population of a village.
"The panchayat offices have received the electricity. But if you see the condition of the houses in the villages, about 10 percent of the villages have got the access of electricity and they consider that the electrification network in the village is complete," he added.
Goyal also asserted that the Centre was committed for electrification of Bihar.
"The electrification would only be successful in Bihar if each household gets access to electricity in the villages," he added.
