The rural electrification drive in Nalanda district has won the South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited, which looks after power distribution in 17 districts including Patna, an award that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will confer on April 21.

The company will be honoured under the team category for its work under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana.

According to the website of the Centre's administrative reforms and public grievances department, the awards for best practices in priority programmes and innovation will be given to teams and individuals under seven categories: Startup India, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, e-national agriculture market (eNAM), Stand Up India (for financing SC/ST and/or women entrepreneurs), Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, and innovation in public governance.

This is the first time that Bihar's work on rural electrification will be recognised at the national level.

"The state has been selected for the award under the team category for the work done in Nalanda district under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana," Pratyaya Amrit, principal energy secretary and chairman-cum-managing director of Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited, told The Telegraph on Sunday.

He said the official letter for the award was likely to reach by Monday.

The Telegraph had on April 3 reported that Nalanda was among the three Bihar districts including Kishanganj short-listed for the award.

Achieving cent per cent electrification in Nalanda district in two years after launch of the rural electrification scheme in 2015 was a tough challenge.

On April 1, 2015, there were 44 villages in Nalanda that had never been electrified and in 954 villages only partial electrification had been done. Most of these villages were located in flood-hit Sarmera, Bind, Hilsa, Asthawan and Karaiparsurai blocks and many of them would remain submerged in water for four to five months a year because they were located in river areas.

"The challenge was tough but we chalked out plans keeping the ground realities in mind and those were executed in a manner that work could be completed in the months free from waterlogging problem," said R. Lakshmanan, managing director, South Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd.

By the end of 2015-16, all the 44 villages in Nalanda without power had been electrified. By the end of 2016-17, all the 954 partially electrified villages had been fully electrified.

According to the power company's records, the per capita energy consumption in Nalanda has gone up from 179 units per year to 310 units per year in two years. Against the total power consumer base of 1.76 lakh customers in 2014-15, the district now boasts of a consumer base of 3.32 lakh.

In addition to the preparation of the work plan keeping the ground realities in mind, the power sector in Bihar has also witnessed several policy changes that have boosted rural electrification work.

Out of the total 39,073 revenue villages in the state, over 2,000 were without power on April 1, 2015. Now this number stands at less than 600.