People still living under the clutches of darkness in Ri-Bhoi

Ri-Bhoi (Meghalaya) April 25: Despite the awareness and coverage of Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yoja(RGGVY), cases of discrepancy and discontent are found in number of villages in the Ri-Bhoi districts of Meghalaya as large number of BPL households still have no electricity connection till date.

According to some villagers of Umdohbyrthih village of Umling Block of the district certain number of RGGVY  approved beneficiaries are deprived off their benefits as large number of discrepancy in the me of duplicate connection has been undergoing in this area since long time.

Although several formalities and cross verification have been done to prepare the approved list of BPL consumers who are eligible for free electricity connection, but  yet instances of providing free connection to APL households instead of eleigible BPL households have come into light.

From the baseline survey it has been found that  out of total 9647 identified BPL households in the district, nearly 34.03% of the BPL beneficiaries are still facing the darkness as RGGVY has failed to reach out the villagers.

Though electrification of the rural households have succeeded in making positive impact in the minds of the rural populace to certain extent but yet for a larger section of the villagers their life has still been the same as like before as electricity has still been a distant dream to them.

According to the sources received from Executive Engineer's R.E Construction Division, of Jowai  region, the total number of BPL households to be covered in the Umling and Umsing block are 13798 , out of which only 8663 households have been covered .

However the survey also reflected that  few  of the sample BPL beneficiaries have not faced any problems in accessing benefits through RGGVY. Those who are benefitted by this scheme praise the ease with which they got their connection  as they did not have to run from table to table of the electricity department with their applications in hand. However duplicate connection and deprivation of eligible BPL benefeciaries from their rights have been a matter of great concern for majority of villagers.

Thus Ibility to track and mend such errors will continue to create negative  impact in the life of the poor villagers  thereby pushing them more towards poverty and hardship.

In order to bridge the gap and bring out more transparency  and accountability in the implementation process of the scheme ACTED under the aegis of European Union (EU) along with active implementation of NEICORD is actively working in the project of improving access to information and delivery of public scheme in the seven backward districts of North East including Goalpara said Mr. Thonghomang Haokip the Program Director from NEICORD.