December 10, 2015
Bengal leads in rural electrification
Bengal leads once again; this time in rural electrification. Data furnished by the Centre shows that West Bengal is among the best performing states in rural electrification scheme.
In a report placed in the Rajya Sabha by the Union Power Minister regarding the work done on rural electrification in different States, it was revealed that only 14 villages are left in the State to be connected with electricity.
In this respect, it must be added that Bengal has the least number of villages to be connected with electricity compared to all the other States. For example, the number of villages that are still under darkness in Odisha are 3282. In Madhya Pradesh the number of such villages is 346, 2720 in Assam and so on.
State Power Minister said that till 2011, only 30% of the villages in West Bengal were electrified. In the last four years, the number increased to 94%.
Time and again, the Central Government had to follow the Bengal model for different schemes even after neglecting the State financially. Whether it is the Swachh Bharat scheme or Maoist problem, Kanyashree or fair price medicine shops, Bengal has emerged as a national model under Mamata Banerjee.
