'99% rural electrification complete'

Kolkata: Around 99 percent of rural electrification works in the state have been completed, said state Power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay.

Chattopadhyay on Thursday said that the state government is committed to provide electricity to all the consumers at cheaper rates for which the state Power department has created a policy.

The minister mentioned that when the present government came to power for the first time, around 56 percent villages in the state were under electricity coverage but now 99.99 percent rural electrification work has been done. Earlier, power cuts were a regular phenomenon but there are no outages in the state now.

Under 'Aloshree' project, the state Power department has made sure that as many as 500 schools and colleges across the state have got solar panels to develop energy that is for their own consumption. More solar panels are coming up on rooftops of schools, colleges and office buildings. The solar panels generally have a capacity of 10-20 KV.

He added that the state Power department has tied up with the Howrah Municipal Corporation to set up a 147 MW capacity power unit to produce energy from wastes. Around 215 sub-stations will be set up across the state in the next two years, Chattopadhyay said. He also said that LED bulbs will be used for the street lights in a pilot programme to cut down the cost of electricity. A campaign is going on for the installation of LED lights in villages as well.