Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) Corporate Office in Bengaluru.
Credit: DH Photo/ S K Dinesh
Bengaluru: Close to 550 families from small tribal pockets in Chitradurga and Tumakuru districts will soon receive electricity, as Bescom takes up an electrification drive under the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DA-JGUA) scheme.
For the first time, Bescom has received a grant of Rs 1.58 crore from the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs under the programme.
While most villages in the state have already been electrified, a few households in remote areas were left out. The new funds will help provide connections to these remaining homes, Bescom officials said.
“All the villages under our jurisdiction have been electrified, and most houses already have power connections. Some households that couldn’t afford them were covered under various state government schemes. However, a few homes built later or located in interior areas remained unelectrified; these will now be covered,” a senior Bescom official said.
According to a Bescom survey, 520 houses in Chitradurga and 32 in Tumakuru have been identified as beneficiaries.
“We conducted surveys across all districts under our jurisdiction to identify unelectrified households. Those in Chitradurga and Tumakuru are in interior rural areas and among the very few still without power,” said Dr N Shivashankar, Managing Director, Bescom.
Many of these houses were previously inaccessible, he added.
Work under the scheme has already begun, with projects worth about Rs 8 lakh completed so far.
An official said the Ministry of Power has directed all states to electrify un-electrified and partially electrified households within their jurisdiction, and the DA-JGUA initiative will help achieve this goal.