• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Top priority will be accorded to giving power connections to weaker sections and people belonging to scheduled castes and tribes.

Advertisement

Thiruvananthapuram Feb. 16 The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has entered into an agreement with the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) for taking up a Rs 438-crore project under Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vydhyuthi Yoajana (RGGVY).

The State Government and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) are also signatories to the agreement. The latter will be the implementing agency for the project.

According to officials in the Electricity Minister's office, top priority will be accorded to giving power connections to weaker sections and people belonging to scheduled castes and tribes. The Government hopes to electrify all the homes coning under these categories within the next two years.

The officials said that 90 per cent of the cost of the project would come as grant and the balance 10 per cent as loan. The Centre will give Rs 221 crore as the first instalment of the assistance this year itself.

The talks on the assistance were initiated during the time of the previous Government and KSEB had also floated tenders for awarding the work on the project. But the lowest bid received exceeded the approved estimates by more than 60 per cent.

The Power Minister, Mr A.K. Balan, had discussed the issue with the Union Minister, Mr Sushilkumar Shinde. The Centre later allowed the State Government to revise the estimates and bring in NTPC as the implementing agency.

The officials said that the Union Minister also assured Mr Balan that the State Government or KSEB would not have to bear any additional financial burden incurred while implementing the project.

More Stories on : Power | Rural Development | Kerala

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
El Nino diminishing; prospects up for La Nina

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line