Long wait likely for 24x7 power supply to all

Infra in slow lane, states lag in fund utilisation

The Centre has met its target of connecting all villages and households (99.99 per cent) through its two flagship schemes, Deen Dayal Upadhaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Saubhagya.

But the other components of these schemes to ensure seamless power supply and robust infrastructure are far from completion. Of the sanctioned ~43,439 crore for these works, states have claimed only 41 per cent, which indicates slow project completion.

The deadline for closing the schemes is March next year, and all projects should be completed by December this year.

Apart from connecting villages and households, the other components of these schemes include feeder separation, feeder metering, household metering and new transformers, and transmission and distribution infrastructure.

The data collated by Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) has shown most states have completed 30-60 per cent of the work under the DDUGJY. These include Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Punjab, and Uttarakhand. These are also the states where distribution companies face high losses.

Large states such as Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Madhya Pradesh are in the 60-90 per cent completion bracket. REC, whose data Business Standard has reviewed, is the nodal agency for rural electrification and access schemes. The firm, in a latest presentation, said most states were not sharing details of infrastructure villagewise, and closure proposals were not being audited.

States are also not sharing details of interest accruals on grants given by the Centre. It also requested the states to expedite the closure of all the projects. State-owned power distribution companies (discoms), which execute these projects, are back to making losses. This harms all reforms. It also leads to delays in payment to contractors.

Recently, this paper reported that around 50 power meter manufacturers had dues of ~6,000 crore from states that installed the meters under several Central schemes, especial

ly Saubhagya.

The cumulative losses of discoms (21 states) were ~28,369 crore at the end of FY19, up by 88 per cent over the year before.

This is when power demand is touching new records with new consumers being connected. In the past five years, the average power demand of the country jumped 39.16 per cent.

During this summer (AprilJuly), India saw the highest ever power demand of 183,804 Mw.