SAMBALPUR: Despite housing the Hirakud dam project which also generates electricity, hundreds of villages in the district continue to be in dark without power. As many as 473 villages in Sambalpur district await electrification even though schemes like Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyuti Karan Yojana (RGGVY) and Biju Gram Jyoti Yojana have been launched. Although these 473 villages are scheduled to be electrified under RGGVY, the snail pace at which the programme is being implemented and pursued, power supply to these villages remains a distant dream. Official reports reveal that as per 2001 Census there are 1,322 villages in Sambalpur district spread across nine blocks of the district. While Rairakhol block which is also a sub-division has a maximum of 122 villages which are without electricity, Dhankauda situated close to Sambalpur town has three villages which are yet to be electrified. Similarly in Maoist-infested Naktideul block in Rairakhol sub-division, 105 villages await electrification. In other Maoist-hit blocks of Jamankira and Jujumura, 100 and 55 villages respectively have not been electrified while in Bamra block, the number stands at 42. In Kuchinda block which is also a sub-division, 26 villages are without electricity while in Rengali block, on the fringes of Hirakud dam reservoir, 11 villages do not have power supply. Similar is the case with Maneswar block. Although 77 villages across the district had been electrified, power supply has been stopped for various reasons.