In a bid to woo rural voters ahead of the elections, the Centre on Wednesday launched a Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) electrification programme for 100,000 villages covering 1 crore (10 million) households over the next two years.
Launching the scheme, 'Accelerated electrification of 100,000 villages and 10 million households', Union Power Minister Anant Geete said Rs 2,400 crore (Rs 24 billion) would be given by the Centre in the form of grant while the balance would be raised as loan from various institutions like PFC, REC and NABARD.
He, however, asked the states to cooperate fully to make this programme a success.
Last week, the Union Cabinet had given its nod to the scheme while merging three existing power schemes and decided to enforce stricter definition of an 'electrified village'.
The Cabinet had approved the merger of Accelerated Rural Electrification Programme (AREP), Kutir Jyoti Yojana (KJY) and rural electrification component of Prime Minister Grameen Yojana (PMGY) into a new two-year scheme of accelerated electrification.
As per the new definition, a village would be considered electrified only if a minimum of 10 households have power supply.
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