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The Union Minister of Power, Shri P.M. Sayeed today reviewed the implementation of the newly launched Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana with senior officials of the Ministry, Chairman and Managing Director, Rural Electrification Corporation and senior representatives of the Central Public Sector Utilities.
The Chairman and Managing Director, REC, Shri. M.N. Prasad gave a brief overview of the action taken so far for implementation of the Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana. The REC has drafted and forwarded to all States and Union Territories on 7th May, 2005 documents including the draft MOUs to be signed with the CPSUs, Quadripartite Agreements and Tripartite Agreements to be signed between REC, State Government and State Power Utilities and with concerned CPSUs in the case of Quadripartite Agreements.
The Rural Electrification Corporation had also held regional technical workshops at Bangalore, Kolkata and Delhi last month to which representatives of the State Government, State Power Utilities, State Energy Secretaries and Central Power Utilities were invited to explain and amplify details of the scheme. The REC informed the Minister that the response from the States has been encouraging. Projects have been received from Jammu & Kashmir and Kerala while Jharkhand has indicated their willingness to allot projects to Central Power Utilities.
An important key feature of the rural electrification scheme is franchisee arrangements and formation of district committees to oversee implementation. Shri Sayeed was very keen that expeditious action should be taken to put these arrangements in place to ensure revenue sustainability.
After the review, the Minister has directed the REC and senior officials to expeditiously formulate an action plan for implementation in all states of the country in consultation with the State counterparts. The Minister has directed the REC to come up with a National Action Plan by June 15th, 2005 showing quarterly targets of implementation and corresponding expenditure for various unelectrified villages in the States. He has also desired that states should be told if their requirements are not included in the Action Plan by June 15th, it will be difficult to include the projects once the Action Plan is put in motion. He also desired that the officials should take a more pro-active role with the weaker states so that the poorer sections stand to benefit out of the scheme.
EK/MK.
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