Abujmarh's first village to be electrified

RAIPUR: Virgin tribal heartland of

Abujmarh

, home to aboriginal tribes in the Maoist-dominated Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, will get its first electricity connection at village Chote Donger soon. Chief minister Raman Singh will inaugurate electrification of the village in Maoist-dominated area.

Singh chaired a meeting on Wednesday with officials of energy department and said state government has rolled out plans to electrify all villages in the state by 2018.

Chief minister said villages in Abujmarh had remained in darkness due to Maoists activity. State government taking its development programme to another level will electrify Chote Dongar village first in the region.

He also reviewed the installation of electric sub-stations in various parts of state and asked the department officials to implement the projects on a war-footing.

Elaborating on the project, Singh said, "The 198 electric sub-stations' projects of 33/11 KV capacity should be completed by June 2017. They will solve the low voltage fluctuations issue. Thirty electric sub-stations are likely to come up at Rajnandgaon district, 27 sub-stations at Durg district, 22 at Raipur and Raigarh districts, 18 at Mahasamund district, 17 at Surguja district, 15 at Bilaspur district, 14 sub-stations at Janjgir-Champa district, 12 at Bastar (Jagdalpur) , 11 at Kanker distrct and 10 sub-stations at Korba district."

He said that 29 electric sub-stations with 132 kv and above capacity are being installed in various parts of the State. From Raita to Jagdalpur 400kv capacity electric lines are being laid.

The electric sub-stations are being constructed at Narayanpur, Bilaspur, Kawardha, Jagdalpur, Dharsiwha, Parsada, Mohala, Nagari, Wadrafnagar, raipur, Kondatarai, Pakhanjur, Bijapur, Damra, Shivrinarayan, Takatpur, Lormi, Kansabel, Dornapal Berla, Basna, Bhakhara, Charama, Borjhara, Batouli, Indhagaon and Sukma, Jagdalpur and Kurud.

During the meeting officials informed nearly five lakh below poverty line families had been given LED lamps under the 'Ujala Yojana'. Rest of the poor families will be provided with lamps by March-end.

Meanwhile, it's a welcome move for tribals in Abujmarh region.

Chief minister had announced to lift movement restrictions in Abujmarh few years ago saying that satellite mapping to locate villages in the region is being carried out by the Indian Space Research Organisation for its development.

The movement restrictions in the region was imposed in the early 1980s when a foreign television channel telecast a documentary about the lives of Abujmarh tribals and the traditional "Gotul" system of Muria Gond tribes, allegedly showing them in nude and portraying their 'Gotul' system in poor light.

Chief secretary

Vivek Dhand

, energy department additional chief secretary N Baijendra Kumar, principal secretary to CM Aman

Kumar

Singh, mineral resources department secretary Subodh Singh were among those present.