The Ministry of Power said 2.82 crore households have been electrified as of March 31, 2021, since the launch of 16,320-crore Saubhagya scheme.

“As of march 2019, 2.63 crore willing un-electrified households in rural and urban areas of the country were provided electricity connections in a record time of 18 months,” the ministry said.

The electricity connection to households included the release of electricity connections by drawing a service cable from the nearest pole to the household premise, installation of an energy meter, wiring for a single light point with LED bulb, and a mobile charging point, it added.

It further said 18.85 lakh un-electrified houses in seven states Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, identified before March 2019 were also covered under the scheme.

Saubhagya, one of the largest household electrification drives in the world, was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 25, 2017. The objective of the scheme was achieving universal household electrification in the country, through last mile connectivity and providing access to electricity to all un-electrified households in rural areas and poor households in urban areas.

The total financial implications of the project was Rs 16,320 crore while the Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) was Rs 12,320 crore. The outlay for the rural households was Rs. 14,025 crore while the GBS was Rs 10,587.50 crore.

For the urban households, the outlay stood at Rs 2,295 crore while GBS was Rs 1,732.50 crore.

The government largely provided funds for the scheme to all states and UTs. The journey started with Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) which envisaged the creation of basic electricity infrastructure in villages.