Patna: Bihar is on the cusp of yet another achievement.

It pertains to electrifying all 1,06,249 hamlets in the state by this month-end. The state has electrified all its 39,073 revenue villages and its formal announcement had been made in December last year.

The power companies had electrified all its revenue villages by December 26 against the December 31 deadline set by the state government.

Going by the latest figures available at the headquarters of Bihar State Power Holding Company, there are just about 7,000 hamlets left to be electrified now. The company officials are monitoring the hamlet electrification work, which is being executed by the North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited and South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited on a daily basis and they also issue instructions to the field officials if they find any compromise on the pace.

Electrification at hamlet level is significant because a revenue village consists of several hamlets and for delivering the benefits of rural electrification, reaching out to each and every hamlet is a must. "On an average, 300 hamlets are being electrified daily and we have asked the field officials to increase this pace so that the April-end deadline could be met at any cost," a senior official at the holding company told The Telegraph.

On the progress made, another senior official of the holding company said all the hamlets of 19 districts, including Gopalganj, Siwan, Nalanda, Kishanganj and Purnea had already been done. The official, at the same time, also maintained that there were some areas of concern and field officials were facing tough challenges in completing the electrification work in districts of Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Kaimur, Sitamarhi and West Champaran.

In case of Muzaffarpur and Bhagalpur, the problem has arisen owing to the private franchise. The Bhagalpur franchise was removed just a few months back, the officials there are trying to gain pace in the work for achieving the desired target within the deadline.

In case of Kaimur, there are geographical issues as some hamlets are located in very remote areas in tough terrain which is not allowing the work to go at desired pace.

"We have analysed the problems of the challenge in districts and issues are being resolved quickly so that the hamlet electrification work could be completed in these districts too within the deadline," said the official.