Lucknow set to become ‘Saubhagyashali’ on Nov 30
83K houses electrified under ‘Saubhagya scheme’
LUCKNOW: After meeting its target of electrifying its revenue villages and ‘majras’ (hamlets), the state capital would be declared a ‘Saubhagyashali district’ on November 30, said general manager Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration (LESA), CisGomti, Madhukar Varma, on Monday.
“The ‘Saubhagya scheme’ was launched to light up all revenue villages and majras of the district. According to the survey conducted by the Madhyanchal Vidyut Viitaran Nigam Limited, around 83,000 houses in 808 revenue villages and 2,100 majras were to be electrified under the scheme till December 2018. However, Madhyanchal will achieve this target a month in advance. It means Lucknow is all set to become ‘Saubhagyashali’ on November 30,” he said, adding that the LESA staff had made it possible through their dedication and hard work.
“Our effort is to provide 20 hours of electricity supply in rural areas and 24 hours in city areas. All villages under Saubhagya scheme will receive metered supply,” said Varma.
Saubhagya, Ujjwala improved energy access
The Council On Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), one of South Asia's leading not-forprofit policy research institutions, released its flagship research publication, ‘Access to Clean Cooking Energy and Electricity: Survey of States’ (ACCESS 2018) at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.
The study mentioned an almost threefold increase in grid electricity as the primary source of lighting in India since 2015. It also highlighted that the proportion of rural households using kerosene as the primary source of lighting had reduced from 72% to 30% over the last three years.
The study credited government schemes, including Saubhagya and Ujjwala, as having played an important role in improving energy access in the country and in Uttar Pradesh.