Over 13,000 houses in West Uttar Pradesh get electricity connections in a day

The Government of Uttar Pradesh has provided electricity connections to around 13,254 houses in the Western Uttar Pradesh region in a single day. As per reports, the work was undertaken as a part of 'Saubhagya' scheme. The houses in the Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Hapur, Gautam Budh Nagar, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Moradabad, Sambhal, Amroha, Rampur and Bijnor districts were reportedly provided with electricty connections. Among the total houses, 2,372 belonged to below poverty line (BPL) families. The connections were given for free during 464 mega camps set up across 14 districts in West Uttar Pradesh. Under this scheme, all the above poverty line (APL) and BPL customers were provided not only free electricity, but also free electricity meters, service cable, 9 W LED bulbs, two switches and one socket. The Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana 'Saubhagya' – a Rs 16,320 crore scheme of the Central Government – aims to provide power connections to over four crore families in rural and urban areas by December 2018. It is also reported that the BPL customers will not have to pay for the electricity connections and a mere Rs 50 per month will be taken from APL customers in 10 easy installments.