VISION

POWER FOR ALL by 2012 and provide access to electricity to all the rural households of Uttarakhand by March 2012

STRATEGY

1. The development of Village Electrification Infrastructure by means of extension, up-gradation and strengthening of the Distribution Systems.
2. 100% Rural Electrification based on District-wise actual Survey of villages & hamlets
3. Implementation of Franchisee-based system for Metering, Billing & Collection.

RURAL ELECTRIFICATION – An Overview

1. 97% villages in Uttarakhand (erstwhile UTTARANCHAL) has been electrified covering 15262 villages, as on 30th November 2008, with access to electricity provided to 14726 villages as against a total of 15761 Revenue villages identified during the Census 2001.
2. On 31 March, 2001, 79.7% villages of Uttarakhand were electrified, which amounted to 12563 villages.
3. As on 30 November, 2008, 499 villages remains to be electrified by UPCL and UREDA. Under RGGVY, out of the remaining un-electrified villages, 44 villages shall be electrified during December 2008 - March 2009, namely 3 villages in Tehri , 2 villages in Chamoli, 3 villages in Nainital , 18 villages in Almora, 4 villages in Bageshwar , 8 villages in Pithoragarh & 6 villages in Champawat District of Uttarakhand.
4. Out of the 536 villages electrified by UREDA upto November, 2008 through MHP/ Solar energy in the remote hinterland of the State. It may be noted that 396 villages electrified by Solar energy may be re-visited for connectivity by GRID in future using other energy sources e.g. Bio-mass Gasifier, MHP, etc.
5. 13998 villages were electrified by March 2005 and 15213 villages were electrified by March 2008 respectively.
6. RAJIV GANDHI GRAMEEN VIDYUTIKARAN YOJANA (RGGVY) launched in April 2005 aims to achieve 100% electrification of villages and provide access to electricity to all rural households by March 2012.

Action Plan for meeting RGGVY target

1. A time-bound ACTION PLAN for Rural Electrification for 2008-09 to achieve 100% electrification by March 2012 with access to electricity to every household has been formulated through District–wise Survey of balance RE Works, as per the REC Guidelines.
2. Expeditious energizing of villages and hamlets/ Toks by the Distribution Wing under the Operations Directorate of UPCL has been facilitated with the use of Project management charts -Line Charts, Connection Diagrams, etc.- by the respective RGGVY Contractor duly-verified by the Projects Directorate, along with the release of BPL connections simultaneously.
3. A comprehensive list of District-wise energized villages & its associated hamlets/ Toks with their respective Village Code and Date of energizing for which Village Electrification Infrastructure (VEI) is being re-conciled/ compiled, taking support from the Local District Authorities/ Gram Panchayats.
4. Plan is underway to complete the balance District-wise works under RGGVY by March 2009.
   

Historical background of RGGVY

A Tri-partite Agreement was signed between the Govt. of Uttarakhand (formerly Uttaranchal), UPCL and REC on the 23rd June 2005 for the Rural Electrification Project Implementation under RGGVY in Uttaranchal (re-named as UTTARAKHAND on 1st January 2007). The salient features of this scheme are:

1. The sanctioned RGGVY scheme is for the 13 districts of the State with REC, New Delhi as the NODAL AGENCY. The scheme outlay of Rs. 643.98 crores comprises of 90% subsidy and 10% loan component.
2. The total revised budget outlay of the Rural Electrification and Secondary works amounts to Rs.758.50 crores.
3. NESCL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NTPC, through a tetrapartite Agreement of 20th March 2006 were entrusted with the task of Project Monitoring, Supervision and Quality control of RE Works, during construction stage for the sanctioned Schemes of Tehri, Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Bageshwar Districts.
4. REC PDCL has been retained as Third Party Inspection Agency through a Bi-partite Agreement dated 9th April 2008 for Project Monitoring, Supervision and Quality control of RE Works, during the construction stage in the districts of Dehradun, Uttarkashi, Pauri, Hardwar, Nainital, US Nagar, Almora, Pithoragarh and Champawat.
5. Total expenditure incurred on RGGVY works as on 30th November 2008 is Rs. 527.95 crores, against funding of Rs. 506.69 crores received from REC

Provisions of RGGVY scheme

The RGGVY scheme has a provision for executing the following works:

1. Electrification of 1469 Villages and 20381 Hamlets/ Toks, as per REC norms
2. Release of 281615 BPL connections and 357309 electricity connections to Rural Households
3. Construction of 6 new 33/ 11 KV Substations of total 30 MVA Capacity of 1 X 5 MVA each at Khaitikhan in Champawat (Target: 31-3-09), Kot in Pauri (Target : 30-6-09 ), Munakot in Pithoragarg (Target: 30-6-09), Seraghat in Almora (Target: 30-9-09), Barakot in Champawat (Target: 30-9-09) and Okhalkanda in Nainital (Target: 30-9-09) scheduled for completion, along with the associated 33 KV Lines.

GUIDELINES OF RGGVY SCHEME IMPLEMENTATION

1. The MoP funded ‘RGGVY’ Scheme in Uttarakhand State encompassing all the 13 districts of the State. The coverage of the schemes comprises of 1469 Villages, 20381 Hamlets/ Toks and 281615 BPL consumer connections.
2. The definitive parameters of village electrification as per the scheme are as under:
   

   A Village would be declared electrified if:

   • Basic infrastructure such as the Distribution Transformer and Distribution lines are provided in the inhabited locality as well as the dalit basti/ hamlet where it exists.
   • Electricity is provided to public places like schools, panchayat offices, health centres, dispensaries, community centers etc.
   • The number of households electrified shall be at least 10% of the total number of households in the village.
3. The scheme-wise execution period is two years from the date of release of the first installment. The completion of the scheme for the Districts of Tehri, Bageshwar, Rudraprayag & Chamoli is December 2007, for Pauri & Uttarkashi is October 2008 and for Dehradun, Hardwar, Nainital, Udhamsingh Nagar, Almora, Pithoragarh & Champawat is March 2009. The scheme with 90% subsidy and 10% loan funding has a total outlay of Rs. 643.89 crores.

Note: The revised awarded cost of the scheme is Rs. 758.50 crores with a total cost variation of 17.80% from the sanctioned cost. The expenditure incurred was Rs. 527.95 Crores by 30th November 2008. REC Ltd. New Delhi which is the Nodal Agency for the implementation of the scheme has released Rs. 506.69 crores for the Rural Electrification works under RGGVY .