The Minister of State (IC) For Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, Shri Piyush Goyal, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today, informed the House about the steps taken by the Government for electrification of villages situated in backward and remote areas of the country through new and renewable energy sources.

 The Minister stated that under the Decentralized Distributed Generation (DDG) of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), electricity access is provided to all the villages/habitations where grid connectivity is either not feasible or not cost effective including those situated in backward and remote areas of the country.  This includes mini grids and standalone systems.

 Shri Goyal informed that as on 30.6.2017, 4,220 projects have been sanctioned with the project cost of Rs.1354.60 crore, in various States across the country under the DDG scheme.  All the remaining un-electrified villages are targeted to be electrified by May, 2018.

 Further, the Minister stated that a subsidy of Rs.246.84 crore was disbursed under DDG during the last three years. The State-wise details of capital subsidy released under DDG during the last three years 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 are as follows:

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