Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/15/stories/2010021559900900.htm
Palakkad to become first fully electrified district in India
Special Correspondent
Union Energy Minister to make formal declaration today |
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At a time when large parts of the country remain without electricity, Palakkad district in Kerala is all set to be declared the first fully electrified district in the country.
Union Energy Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde will make a formal declaration at a function to be held in Palakkad on Monday. Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will inaugurate the function. Palakkad followed up on Irinjalakuda and 25 other Assembly constituencies in Kerala which were fully electrified. Work for full electrification of 80 other constituencies was in full swing. All the 11 Assembly constituencies in Palakkad district were electrified as part of a special package, Power Minister A.K. Balan said in a press note here on Sunday.
Mr. Balan said as much as Rs.8.5 crore was spent for power lines in different parts of Mannarkkad Assembly constituency. The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) had set apart Rs.10 crore as part of a special package for electrification of the tribal colonies in the district.
In the case of the Moolaganga colony at Attappady, the KSEB had to spent Rs.4 crore, including the cost of drawing lines covering a distance of 15 kilometres.
The Palakkad model would soon be replicated in Thrissur. Work was on in other districts as well in the same direction, the Minister said.
Mr. Balan said the KSEB had spent Rs.520 crore over the last four years in Palakkad district alone. The electrification project was implemented in the district using the MP and MLA Local Area Development
Fund, the Plan funds of local bodies and their grant-in-aid. The government had decided that up to Rs.1 crore would be released from the normal development fund of the KSEB so as to speed up the electrification programme, the Minister said.