Jammu, Mar 16: Jammu and Kashmir has achieved another milestone under Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana ‘Saubhagya’ with J&K accomplishing the 100 percent target of rural electrification.
An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that the J&K administration has proactively worked in ensuring electrification to every village which is visible from the fact that almost 3,57,405 households have been electri?ed in the entire J&K.
J&K has also received a reward of Rs 100 crore from the Government of India for achieving the target of 100 percent electri?cation ahead of the timeline.
J&K is faced with many natural barriers like mountainous terrains and tough topography of the region thus providing energy access in these hard locations was a distant dream just a couple of years ago.
For the first time, after 73 years of independence village, Saddal of Udhampur district, and the Ganouri-Tanta village of Doda district saw the light of an electric bulb ending decades of darkness from the lives of villagers.
Remote villages in the Kellar area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district had only heard of electricity but the Saubhagya scheme lightened up their lives when they witnessed electricity in their homes.
Similarly, villagers in far-flung and hilly border areas of the Nowshera sub division in Rajouri are experiencing a big transformation in their lives after receiving electricity under the government’s Saubhagya scheme. This area was deprived of power supply from the last seven decades and the scheme.
“We are grateful to the government for launching ambitious schemes like Saubhgya which has made our lives comfortable and convenient in incredible ways. Earlier, our children could not study due to a lack of electricity. We had to go to another village to get our mobile phones charged,” said Abdul Hamid, a resident from the area.
In 2017, Saubhagya was launched to achieve Universal Household Electrification in the country through last-mile connectivity and provide access to electricity to all un-electrified households in rural areas and poor households in urban areas.
While launching the scheme, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi had pledged to provide access to electricity and work towards equity, efficiency, and sustainability in the new age India.