Only 10 villages yet to get electrified in Karnataka

Only ten villages in Karnataka are yet to be electrified. A day after Prime Minister, Narendra Modi announced the Sowbhagya Yojana, Deccan Chronicle attempted to check the status of electrification in Karnataka.

Additional chief secretary, energy department, Rajneesh Goel said in all, ten villages in Uttara Kannada and Chamarajanagar districts were yet to see electrification. "We will complete the process before the year end," he said.

These villages are situated inside forests, and the forest department had not allowed laying of power lines inside the forests.

"We are a energy surplus state. We do not have any problem in supplying power barring minor technical glitches that happen once in a while," Mr Goel asserted.

Meanwhile, a former Karnataka Energy Regulatory Commission member told Deccan Chronicle that it would be difficult to say whether Karnataka was a power surplus state. "Going by world standards, consumption of 3000 unit per person per year is considered ideal. We in Karnataka consume around 1200 units per person per year. To consider ourselves power surplus, we should get uninterrupted power supply throughout the year and only then can we say that Karnataka is power surplus.”