Jammu: With an objective of providing last mile connectivity to un-electrified households across the state, Chief Engineer, EM&RE Wing, Jammu Ashwani Gupta Saturday launched “Gram Swaraj Abhiyan” to be observed from April 14 to May 5, 2018.
“Gram Shakti Abhiyan” is one of the special occasions of the campaign, which would be celebrated on April 28, 2018 by saturating 124 identified villages in nine districts by providing free electricity connections to willing poor households and distributing LED lamps at subsidized rates.
The program was launched by flagging off the branding vans to setup kiosks at 124 identified villages across the state for providing electricity access/ connections to the leftover households through joint teams of the officers from EM&RE Wing, Power Development Department and REC, besides distribution of LED lamps by representatives of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL).
As part of the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, free electricity connections would be provided to the poor households and subsidized electricity connections at the rate of Rs. 500 to non-poor households, which would be recovered in 10 easy installments. The program has been covered under the Saubhagya scheme (Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana) launched by the Centre last year.
Pertinent to mention that the ‘SAUBHAGYA’ scheme was launched by Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh in December last year with Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) as nodal agency for its coordination and implementation in the state.
During the campaign, EESL would offer LED bulbs at a special price of Rs. 50 under UJALA (Unnat Jyoti By Affordable LEDs for All) program that promotes energy conservation by increasing the use of energy-efficient LED lighting at residential level. The LED bulbs will equip homes with energy-efficient, cost-effective lighting and higher lumen output than conventional incandescent bulbs.
Executive Engineer ED-III (Nodal Officer, PDD) Sanjay Sharma, Executive Engineer, ED-II P.D Singh, Executive Engineer, ED-I N.K Singh, CPM, REC-Jammu Ajay Kumar and DGM, EESL Pran Saurabh along with other officials of JKPDD were present.
