Attabira: Due to massive irregularities in the rural electrification work under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), a Centre-sponsored scheme, the programme has allegedly flopped in Attabira and Bheden blocks in Bargarh district.
Officially, it is claimed that crores of rupees have been spent for electrification of BPL households in two blocks in 2017, but the ground reality tells a different story.
In fact, poor people in hundreds of houses are still living in dark. Electricity is still a dream for them, it was learnt. Actually, no common man had any idea about how the rural electrification is being carried out.
A few days ago, some locals of Bhedan block were dismayed by an information plaque about the DDUGJY put up near Deshparthala livestock inspection centre.
Matching the ground realities with the data on the plaque, the locals suspected massive irregularities committed in the name of DDUGJY. They alleged that some contractors engaged in the rural electrification drive put up the board without doing the work.
Locals said, “While hurriedly laying the foundation for the DDUGJY information plaque near the livestock centre, the underground water pipe got damaged. Water supply was disrupted to the livestock centre.”
The plaque revealed that the NTPC had been entrusted the electrification in the area under DDUGJY. It was claimed that the work was done three years ago while Rs 167 crore has been spent for the electrification of scores of villages in Bargarh district.
In reality, many BPL families included in the DDUGJY have been deprived of free electricity. Locals wondered why contractors put the information plaque three years after their work.
They alleged that the rural electrification is shown in pen and paper while its fund is misappropriated owing to an unholy nexus among contractors, engineers and people’s representatives.
Locals accused the administration of deliberately doing nothing to monitor the rural electrification drive. They have demanded a vigilance investigation into the rural electrification scheme for the poor.
PNN