57 Percent of households in Odisha don’t have access to electricity: ASSOCHAM

New investments in the power sectors in Odisha amount to be about 4 Lac Crore in the FYs 2004-05 to 2012-13, claiming a share of 12 per cent of the total 31 Lac Crore across the country during this period. It stands just second to Gujurat in the race. But its performance on the ground does not seem to comply with this braggadocio as more than half of Odisha’s population still does not have access to electricity and the agriculture sector avails a low power supply.
According to a study conducted by Associated Chambers of Commerce of Industries in India (ASSOCHAM) the outstanding investment in power sector in Odisha as of 2012-13 has been 16 Lac Crore that is 33 percent of the total outstanding investment of Rs 49.5 Crore throughout the country in the power sector. As of 2004-05 outstanding investment in the power sector in Odisha was Rs 1.6 Lac Crore.
Yet the ASSOCHAM study titled “State wise Analysis of Power sector: Consumption, Demand &Investment” reveals that only 43 percent of the household in Odisha have the facility of electricity. And in agriculture the mainstay of Odisha’s economy electricity consumption growth stands at as low as 9th position.
flow of new investments in the FY 2012-13 was Rs 3380 Crore in the power sector in Odisha, two third of it in the private sector and rest in the public sector.