New Delhi, Sep 25 (Inditop.com) Solar energy-powered electrical lighting systems came online Friday in about 3,900 households in 27 remote villages of Gurez tehsil in Jammu and Kashmir, as part of the government’s Remote Village Electrification (RVE) Programme.
Dedicating the project to about 30,000 people living in these villages, New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah said projects have been sanctioned for extending basic lighting facility to 145 of the 284 un-electrified villages and 28 hamlets in the state.
The RVE programme aims to provide renewable energy-based lighting and electricity solutions to all those villages in the country where grid will not be able to reach in the near future due to technical or economic reasons.
Of the total Rs.5 crore cost of the Gurez tehsil project, the ministry contributed around Rs.4.5 crore, while the balance Rs.50 lakh was given by the state government.
The ministry finances up to 90 percent of the cost and more than 9,400 remote villages in 24 states have been taken up so far under the programme.
For the 11th plan period, the government has recently approved an allocation of Rs.867 crore for coverage of 10,000 remote villages and hamlets.
