Power Minister R K Singh on Wednesday exuded confidence that 100 per cent household electrification would be achieved under the Saubhagya scheme by the end of 2018 as only 50 lakh families are left to be covered.

The Union and the state Power Ministers in a meeting in July had decided to provide electricity connections to all families by December 2018, against the earlier target of March 2019.

Singh, in an open article, said the power consumer base was increasing at the rate of one lakh per day and estimates suggested that the number of households left were less than 50 lakh. “At this rate, almost 50 more days will be required to achieve 100 per cent household electrification. If we do it faster, less days to achieve the goal,” he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2017 had launched the Rs 16,320-crore ‘Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana’ - Saubhagya - to achieve universal household electrification.

“We have set an ambitious goal for ourselves — the goal of providing access to 24x7 power for all in the country. Access to power here represents not only connectivity to the network, but also includes availability of requisite infrastructure across the power sector value chain to ensure supply of quality and reliable power. And we are well on our way to achieving our goal,” the minister said.

India crossed the milestone of electrifying 2 crore households under the Saubhagya scheme, which started in October 2017, on November 19, 2018. He lauded the government initiatives that have helped the country achieve 24th rank in 2018 on the World Bank’s Ease of Getting Electricity as against 111th rank in 2014.