Congress-BJP war on, APCC refutes allegations

Rural electrification

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, May 6: The war of words between the Congress and the BJP on the credit for completion of village electrification refused to die down in Assam with the Congress hitting back at the Saffron party’s statement.

The Congress claims that rural electrification in the country, including Assam, was done during the UPA regime under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY). It said that present BJP-led dispensation completed the remaining electrification by renaming the project as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY).

In a statement issued to the press on Sunday, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) spokesperson Rituparna Konwar said: “(RGGVY was launched in Assam in 2007 with the target of extending election connection to 26,000 villages in phases in the State. No bamboo posts were used under the scheme in the State. The electric posts that were shown in the media were ones used by individual households illegally before getting power connection. During the Congress regime in the State from 2007 to 2016 as many as 68935 circuit km power lines were used involving the erection of as many as 13.787 lakh concrete electric posts. The statistics of 12,000 bamboo posts given by the BJP is laughable. The Congress regime in the State could connect 92 per cent of rural electrification in the State. The BJP, after coming to power, changed the name of the scheme and the colour of 31,207 transformers using saffron. The BJP government at Dispur should engage itself for the development of the State instead of misleading people of the State through falsehood.”