Total electrification to be achieved by March next year: Minister

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala government proposes to complete electrification of all the houses lacking power connection in the State by March 2017, Electricity Minister Kadakampally Surendran told the Assembly on Monday.

The Minister said that about 2.5 lakh houses remained to have electric connections. As many of these households could not afford to meet the expenditure, the funds would be made available by both the State Electricity Board and the Government. The Centrally sponsored schemes would also be tapped besides asset development funds of legislators.

Urging legislators to contribute, Mr. Surendran said that a supervisory committee headed by local member of Assembly would be constituted in each constituency to oversee the programme.

He said that while only 32 per cent of the households in the country had electricity as per 2011 Census, 94.4 per cent households were electrified in Kerala.

He recalled that the previous LDF government had achieved total electrification in four districts before 2011.