ITANAGAR, Aug 16: The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has negated the claim made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 100% electrification of the entire Northeast states during his speech on Independence Day.
“Modi’s claim is false as government data shows that 31 million (in general) rural households are still in the dark,” the Congress alleged in a press statement on Thursday.
The APCC questioned if Modi knew that a village is recognized as electrified only if it has basic electrical infrastructure. “That is when power cables from the grid reaches a transformer in each village and 10 percent of its households and public places including schools, panchayat office and health centre have access to electricity, as defined by the power ministry,” it said.
It said Modi’s claim of 100% electrification of the Northeast states was fake “because even small towns like Nirjuli and Doimukh, which are located hardly a few kilometres away from the capital city, are reeling under extreme shortage of power.
“Leisang village of Manipur must be the only village which the Modi-led BJP government has picked to beautifully showcase and cover up its lie about making every village in India have to access electricity. But there are villages in Assam where the electrical poles installed at the beginning of Modi’s reign are standing hollow, rusted and powerless as reported,” the APCC said.
“The prime minister should know that not only in Arunachal Pradesh but villages in other Northeast states are yet to be electrified. The Modi-led BJP government is circulating incorrect information when still many villages are waiting for electrification. A great lie which Modi has spoken from the Red Fort is a shameful act which was never committed by any former PMs of India in the past,” the Congress party added.
Suggesting to the prime minister to collect correct information before making any claim, the APCC said Modi “has crossed the limit of lying and is misleading the nation.”
