REC plan to electrify Bihar

Patna, June 7: The Rural Electrification Corporation REC has embarked upon an ambitious project to provide electricity to villages in Bihar.

REC chief project manager S K N Haider told UNI here on Sunday that though the corporation approved 1,666 projects to provide electricity in 55,845 of 78,469 villages in the state by 1997-98, besides energisation of 237,251 agricultural pump sets, it failed to achieve the target.

He said REC had sanctioned a loan of Rs 544.74 crore to the state till the end of 1997-98, but not even 50 per cent of the amount had been spent. One-fourth of the electrified villages had been de-electrified following theft of conductors and other materials, he said, adding that theft had assumed an alarming proportion.