Uttarakhand border villages, ITBP posts to be connected with power grid for the first time

The Uttarakhand government will soon start electrification of eight villages under the Vibrant Village Scheme of the Centre. The State Power Department began the exercise to align power grid lines for the first time with these villages and ITBP outposts in the area.

Officials from the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) have informed that they have started the work to electrify more than 850 houses in eight border villages of Pithoragarh and Uttarkashi. Apart from the houses in the vibrant village scheme, 43 Indo Tibet Border Police (ITBP) outposts along Indo-China border villages will also be electrified.

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According to the officials, the UPCL has prepared an action plan to supply electricity to extremely remote and strategically important areas along the China border under the central government’s Border Out Post (BOP) and Vibrant Village Program (VVP). The officials further informed that budget allocation and other formalities on grid-based electricity supply plan to ITBP outposts and more than 880 households in eight border villages in Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi and Chamoli has been completed.

Although more than 50 villages along Indo-China border areas have been included under Vibrant Village Program, the officials said only eight villages have been included under electrification plan. These are Puruli village in Uttarkashi and Navi, Kuti, Gunji, Garbyang, Sheela, Baling, and Tidang villages in Pithoragarh.

Survey works, including technical assessments, determining power line routes, pole locations, transformer planning, and other foundation-level preparations are in the process of completion. As per the officials, UPCL regional teams are working on a war footing to expedite the border villager electrification works in adverse weather conditions and limited accessibility in harsh hilly topography.

Speaking to a select group of media persons, UPCL MD Anil Kumar said both the schemes (VVP and BOP) are extremely important from the perspective of national security and rural empowerment in the border area of the state. He added that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is personally monitoring the electrification plan of the border villages.

It is significant that these border villages of Uttarakhand will be connected with grip power lines for the first time ever. This was possible only after Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally took up the task of developing border villages across the country which resulted into framing of VVP.