A review meeting on centrally sponsored schemes for the district was held in the conference hall of DC office on Monday. The issues related to projects regarding electrification of the district was discussed in the meeting. Speaking on the issue, Sushmita Dev, MP Silchar, said that for electrification of entire Cachar district more than 45,000 poles are required, but presently the plant for pole manufacturing unit at Budhurail can manufacture only 132 poles per day. Dev said that a fund of Rs.154 crore under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana has been sanctioned for the district for electrification of 589 Census villages in the second phase of the project. She at the same time pointed out that in the first phase which was launched during the UPA tenure, work in more than 800 villages were started by Power Grid company. The works which will be under taken in the second phase will be executed by Win Power company. Out of the sanctioned Rs.154 crore, Rs.149.39 crore will be utilized for electrification of villages while the remaining funds will be used for upgradation of sub-stations. The total number of revenue villages in the district is 1065, out of which 589 villages will be covered in the second phase of the project. The remaining will be covered under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, Dev added. She stressed that priority for non conventional solar energy plants should be given to remote areas and villages which are not covered by the Power Grid company. For urban areas, the Assam Power Distribution Corporation Limited (APDCL) has approved a project of Rs.19.95 crore under the Integrated Power Development Scheme. Out of Rs.19.95 crore, Rs.16 crore has been sanctioned for Silchar and the remaining Rs.3.95 crore will be utilized for Lakhipur subdivision. The MP recently took the initiative to ask the state load dispatch centre about the information regarding the total amount of electricity provided to the state and the share allotted to Barak Valley. Regarding the deficiency and shortage of electricity in the district, Dev said that the cost per unit revenue generated by the department is Rs.4.5 which is much lower compared to Rs.6.87 per unit generated for other parts of the state. Sushmita Dev said it shows that a section of residents are not paying their due bills on a regular basis. Legal procedure should be initiated against those found guilty of violating the rules, directives, procedures, terms and conditions for supply of electricity under the Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission. Defending the state administration, Dev said that the authorities are not able to generate funds to upgrade the power scenario of the district due to such unlawful activities. Till date more than 290 transformers have been stolen, but not a single arrest has yet been made by the police. It shows that the police is not cooperating with the department, she added. Others present on the meeting included M K Das, district development commissioner, Cachar, Binod Bilong, deputy general manager, Dipankar Nath and Krishnendu Nath, assistant general managers, of Assam Power Distribution Corporation Limited (APDCL).