The power ministry on Saturday said that as many as 2.82 crore families got electricity connection under the flagship Saubhagya scheme.

Till March 31 this year, as many as 2.82 crore households have been electrified since the launch of Saubhagya, a power ministry statement said on the completion of four years of the scheme.

"As of March 2019, 2.63 crore willing un-electrified households in rural and urban areas of the country were provided electricity connections in a record time of 18 months," it said.

Subsequently, seven states Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh reported that around 18.85 lakh un-electrified households, identified before March 31, 2019, which were unwilling earlier, but later expressed their willingness to get electricity connections, were also covered under the scheme.

Saubhagya is one of the largest household electrification drives in the world.

This scheme was announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 25, 2017.

The objective of the scheme was achieving 'Universal Household Electrification' in the country, through last-mile connectivity and providing access to electricity to all un-electrified households in rural areas and poor households in urban areas.

While launching the scheme, the Prime Minister pledged to provide access to electricity and work towards equity, efficiency and sustainability in the "new age India".

The total financial implications of the project were Rs 16,320 crore while the Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) was Rs 12,320 crore.

The outlay for the rural households was Rs 14,025 crore while the GBS was Rs 10,587.50 crore.

For the urban households, the outlay stood at Rs 2,295 crore while GBS was Rs 1,732.50 crore.

The Government of India largely provided funds for the scheme to all states/UTs.

The journey started with 'Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY)' which envisaged the creation of basic electricity infrastructure in villages.

The focus of the scheme was on strengthening and augmentation of the existing infrastructure and metering of existing feeders/distribution transformers to improve the quality and reliability of power supply in rural areas.

Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana - Saubhagya envisioned providing energy access to all by last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all remaining un-electrified households in rural as well as urban areas to achieve universal household electrification in the country.

The electricity connection to households included the release of electricity connections by drawing a service cable from the nearest pole to the household premise, installation of an energy meter, wiring for a single light point with LED bulb, and a mobile charging point.

While the set objectives of the scheme have been achieved, team SAUBHAGYA has continued its work of providing 24x7 quality power supply to all.

All states have been requested to launch special campaigns in their respective states to identify any left out un-electrified household and subsequently provide electricity connections to them.

A dedicated toll-free helpline has also been launched for that purpose, it added.