Indian
Express: Ahmedabad: Monday, January 29,
2018.
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| Out of 58 litigation-affected villages mentioned in the RTI response, 53 belonged to the Lower Dibang Valley. (Express Photo: Pradeep Kocharekar) |
Around 77 per cent of the 1,251 unelectrified
villages in the country are situated in the easternmost state of the country
Arunachal Pradesh because of massive litigation filed by contractors who did
not win electrification tenders, poor performance by contractors who won the
tenders to do off-grid electrification, and tough terrain. Therefore, while
finance minister Arun Jaitley said in his Budget speech last year that the
government is well on its way to achieve 100 per cent village electrification by
May 1, 2018, Arunachal remains a big hurdle in achieving this target.
“Total villages still under litigation are 58
unelectrified villages in Lower Dibang Valley and Tirap districts,” the Rural
Electrification Corporation (REC) told The Indian Express on October 5, 2017,
in response to an RTI application. The state-run REC also stated that while
electrification work in 151 villages was affected because of litigation, the
legal issues have been “sorted out” in 93 villages that were situated in
Papumpare and Changlanag districts.
Out of 58 litigation-affected villages mentioned
in the RTI response, 53 belonged to the Lower Dibang Valley. “The issues
related to the 53 villages of Lower Dibang Valley were resolved in the
October-November period and the contract was subsequently awarded. But, all
this litigation of Papumpare, Changlanag, Lower Dibang Valley and other
districts has delayed the rate of electrification. Most of the cases have been
filed in the Gauhati High Court by disgruntled contractors who did not win the
tender for electrification of a particular district” said a senior REC offical
involved in village electrification of the state.
The latest Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana
(DDUGJY) status report for Arunachal Pradesh, which analyses the
electrification statistics as on December 31, 2017, states: “Five villages in
Tirap are under litigation, and decision is reserved by court. Court case has
been filed by Mega electricals on the plea that KT enterprises has not
furnished breakup of components as per tender conditions. There are
possibilities for out of court settlement and these are being explored.” The
DUUGJY, which covered all aspects of rural electrification, was approved by the
Union Cabinet in November 2015. The REC did not respond to the queries sent by
this newspaper.
Regarding villages that are being electrified
through off-grid infrastructure, the status report stated that there has been a
“poor performance” by two contracting agencies: Millenium and PEC. However, the
report expressed hope that 100 per cent electrification in Arunachal Pradesh
would be done by March this year. According to a senior government official of
the Arunachal government, Millenium and PEC are going to electrify
approximately 580 and 250 villages, respectively, through off-grid network.
Arunachal Pradesh has 5,258 villages. On April 1,
2015, the number of unelectrified villages was 1,578. However, till the end of
2017, only 36 per cent of the unelectrified ones have been electrified. The
state has 967 unelectrified villages as on January 26, 2017.
“The terrain in this state is very tough. Roads
are not available to most of the villages. So, around 85 per cent of the
unelectrified villages would be electrified through off-grid infrastructure
only. The workers who work for contract companies have to walk and carry the
solar panels and pole and other infrastructure material in their hand or on
their back. No animals or transport system is there. These workers sometimes
walk for one and two days to reach a village. Some villages, which are situated
near China border, are on a three day walk distance,” said the REC official
quoted above. The Arunachal Pradesh’s power department did not respond to the
queries sent by The Indian Express.
G S Bhati, executive director, REC, has been
handling the DDUGJY works in Arunachal Pradesh. Due to extremely slow rate of
village electrification, he wrote a letter to Commissioner, Department of
Power, Arunachal Pradesh, on May 9 last year. He stated in his letter: “Various
turnkey contractors have raised the issue of inordinate time being taken to
process and release their due progressive payments. Since, we need to expedite
physical progress at various sites, a faster payment processing mechanism needs
to be devised.”
Power belongs to the concurrent list of the
Constitution; both Centre and states have a substantial role to play. In rural
electrification, the Centre releases the funds through REC to states; it is
ultimately the states which have to implement the scheme via power distribution
companies (known as discoms). Both Arunachal Pradesh and Centre has a BJP
government at present.
Upper Subansiri district has 94 unelectrified
villages. In his May 9 letter, Bhati asked the Commissioner to expedite the
change in technical specifications of poles and insulators so that the work can
start at a site in Upper Subansiri district which is “very remote and difficult
to approach”. Bhati declined to answer the queries sent by this newspaper.
As per the government’s 2006 rural electrification
policy, a village is deemed ‘electrified’ if basic infrastructure such as
distribution transformer and distribution lines has been set up in the
inhabited locality, including a ‘Dalit basti’.
Moreover, at least 10 per cent of the households
of such a village should have access to electricity through the basic
infrastructure established. Nowhere does the definition talk about actual
electricity connection or its supply to the household. The infrastructure
created under the rural electrification scheme has to be energised, operated
and maintained by the concerned state power distribution company to ensure
regular power supply to the villagers.
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