Union Budget 2019: While presenting the last budget before the crucial Lok Sabha polls, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said that the government is all set to provide electricity connection to every willing household under the Saubhagya scheme by the end of March 2019, after having missed the original deadline of 100% household electrification by the end of 2018.
“The task of household electrification is almost complete. As many as 2.5 crore unelectrified households were identified. All willing households will (under Saubhagya scheme) be provided electricity connection by March 2019,” the Piyush Goyal said, adding that till the financial year 2014, only about 2.5 crore households in the country were without electricity.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Rs 16,320-crore Saubhagya scheme in September 2017. The scheme was aimed to achieve 100% household electrification by December 2018.
The government had identified 2,48,47,762 unelectrified households in the country for electrification. As per the information available on the Saubhagya portal, as many as 2,48,19,168 families have already been provided electricity connection under the Rs 16,320 crore Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya).
