51 more villages in Karnal join ‘24-hour power supply’ club

Karnal, August 29

The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has included 51 more villages of the district under the Mhara Gaon, Jagmag Gaon scheme, taking the number of villages to 152. These villages have reduced line losses to less than 22 per cent.

Still 230 remaining villages of the district are to be covered. And the deadline for this is March 31, 2019.

Under the scheme, a village will get 24-hour power supply if 90 per cent of its residents pay bills, lines losses are reduced to less than 22 per cent and all meters are shifted outside the houses.

The UHBVN has been facing heat from residents of Salwan, Dadupur, Sirsi, Picholia and other villages of Assandh block as they are opposing the shifting of meters outside their houses. The discom has managed to pacify residents of Gonder and Badota villages.

AK Raheja, Superintending Engineer (SE), Karnal Circle, UHBVN, said, “We faced stiff opposition from the public during the initial stage of the scheme. But after a public connect programme and other initiatives, including ‘Bijli Rath Yatra’, were launched, the UHBVN received a good response.”

“To achieve the target by March 2019, we have assigned duties to private companies. About 125 more villages will be covered under the scheme by December,” he said.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had launched the scheme from Dyalpur village in Kurukshetra district on July 1, 2015. — TNS