PUNE: The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited’s (MSEDCL) claim of achieving 100 per cent electrification of Maharashtra’s households has fallen flat on its face. Post making this far-fetched claim in December 2018, it took more than four months for the electricity department to realise that the situation on the ground is quite different.
The situation came to light when the electricity department found two isolated villages in the Bhor taluka without electricity - Malwadi with 10 houses, and Dhanwali with 35 houses while preparing for the Lok Sabha elections this month.
These villages come in the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, where polling was held on April 23. But before that, the election officers had to make temporary arrangements for the functioning of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), which work on electricity.
“The situation was brought to our attention due to election polling that took place on April 23. Sanjeev Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of MSEDCL, reviewed the power distribution system for the electrification of these villages and showed confidence that both the villages would soon be lit,” said a statement released by the MSEDCL on April 24, a day after the polling date.
MSEDCL has now completed most of the installation work needed for erecting electricity poles in these villages. The villages are at a height of 4,750 ft above sea level and don’t have roads connecting them to the city, keeping them isolated.
As per information provided by MSEDCL, “Electrification work is going on in Malwadi and Dhanwali villages in the Sahyadri mountain ranges, where no road transport facilities are available. The workers carried the electric pole and materials on their shoulders. Due to which the work was delayed.”
The villages are located 40 kilometres from Bhor. Malwadi comes under the Rairi Gram Panchayat on the Raireshwar hill. Dhanwali is located 2.5 kilometres away. The District Planning Development Committee has sanctioned Rs 35 lakh for Malwadi and Dhanwali. The work for the about 3.5 km high power channel is being done by 50 electric poles with 3.5 km of high voltage electricity line.
MSEDCL CLAIM
- In December 2018, MSEDCL claimed that they had achieved the target of 100 per cent electrification of the State under Saubhagya Yojana.
- Around 10.94 lakh households in the State have been electrified. The deadline set by the company was December 31, 2018, but Mahavitaran has achieved the target on December 27,” the statement said.
- “Beneficiary households were identified using the SECC (Socio, Economic and Caste Census) 2011 database. All these beneficiaries have already been provided with electricity. Amongst the 10,93,614 households, 10,67,603 were given electricity connections through the traditional method and remaining 26,011 through the Maharashtra Energy Development Authority (MEDA),” read the statement.
