Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new electrification scheme for the poor, Saubhagya, is the brainchild of Nitish Kumar, the Bihar Chief Minister's party has claimed. A day after the scheme was announced, the Janata Dal United claimed credit for it, with Energy Minister Vijendra Yadav thanking the Prime Minister for what he called the "adoption of the Nitish Model of Electrification".
The main features of the two schemes, the party claims, are very similar: the December 2018 deadline, payments in installments and involving panchayats in the electrification scheme.
Under the Rs 2,500 crore scheme, PM Modi's government plans to bring electricity 400 lakh households by the end of 2018. Free power connections will be given to families on basis of Socio-Economic and Caste Census data from 2011. Those not covered under the data will be provided connections on payment of Rs. 500, which will be collected in 10 installments.
Nitish Kumar's electrification programme -- "Har Ghar Bijli" meaning electricity in every home - was announced on the eve of 2015 assembly elections. It envisaged electrification of all the villages by year-end and all the households by December 2017.
About other similarities between Saubhagya and "Har Ghar Bijli", sources in the JD(U) said Bihar also has a scheme where connection charge of Rs 2,145 had to be paid in 10 instalments. The state has also involved panchayats in its rural electrification project - a process that finds place in the Centre's electrification scheme. The Central government has already asked 17 states to adopt the system, sources said.
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