Over 3,900 villages yet to be electrified in Odisha

The Odisha government has admitted that 3,940 villages and 16,533 small habitations remained to be electrified. A written reply by State Energy Minister Pranab Prakash Das said 3,144 villages under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana and 521 under Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) could not be electrified in the 12th plan period. Das said over 400 villages each in three districts continued to be without electricity after 69 years of Independence. Similarly, a sizeable number of villages in four more districts are yet to be electrified. Also, 3,268 habitations in another district do not have electricity. Two more districts without electricity have more than a thousand such villages.