Patna, April 19: Bihar has topped the country in rural electrification by taking power to un-electrified villages at a speed unmatched by any other state during the 2015-16 financial year.

The achievement came to light after the state energy department and the Rural Electrification Corporation collated data on electrification of villages till March 31.

It also came on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's lavish praise, during his visit to Bihar last month, for the rural electrification programme in the state .

"Bihar has stood first in rural electrification during 2015-16 and it is a matter of pride for us. We have achieved over 103 per cent of the target fixed for us," energy department principal secretary Pratyaya Amrit said today.

The rural electrification work is being done as part of the Centre-sponsored Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana under which the Union government is spending Rs 75,600 crore across the country.

The Rural Electrification Corporation is the nodal agency for the scheme under the overall guidance of the Union ministry of power.

"The ministry of power set a target of electrification of 1,632 villages for 2015-16 in Bihar but altogether 1,688 were electrified, putting the state at number one position in comparison to others," said a senior official of the corporation, who did not wish to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Around 98 per cent villages in the state have been electrified and at the current pace the target of complete rural electrification could be achieved sooner than the November 2017 deadline fixed by the state government. Of the state's 39,073 villages, 38,100 have already been electrified.

The corporation official said other states that performed well were Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Assam. They electrified 1,321, 1,277 and 1,018 villages respectively during 2015-16, but were behind the target fixed for them for the year. "None of them achieved 100 per cent target," the official added.

He said Bihar's achievement was particularly noteworthy also because a major portion of the work done in the state was raw or right from scratch, and some villages in the riverine areas in Supaul, Saharsa, Patna, Vaishali, Saran and West Champaran districts were difficult to access.

"In comparison, Uttar Pradesh is a more developed place and the un-electrified villages there were easily accessible. Odisha and Assam also lagged behind Bihar. Neighbouring Jharkhand has hardly witnessed much work," the official said.

Power officials attribute Bihar's success in rural electrification to the state government's alacrity. Electrification projects in 27 of 38 districts were sanctioned by the Centre in the 12th Five-Year Plan by December 2014, and were awarded to contractors by the state government over the next couple of months. In other states, the tenders were delayed or are yet reach that stage.

Buoyed by the success, the government is gunning to electrify all villages by March 2017, a good eight months ahead of deadline, energy department sources said.

"We are reviewing and reworking the target deadline for rural electrification and trying our level best to achieve it," said North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited and South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited managing director Sandeep K.R. Pudkalkatti.

North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited director (projects) SKP Singh said: "We are now taking electrification works to villages in forested and the riverine areas. These are considered difficult villages due to accessibility problems and work progress in them would be slow. In un-electrified villages in the plains, we would complete it by December."