Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, June 29, 2015 : Odisha will form district electricity committees (DECs) by the end of this month to monitor the quality and progress of work done under various Central schemes in the power sector, including the recently approved Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS).

Union Power ministry had earlier asked the Odisha government to form such committees at the earliest.

State Energy minister Pranab Prakash Das has asked all the district collectors to form the committee by the end of this month.

The committee will be headed by the senior-most MP of the district with the district collector and another MP as the convener and deputy director of the committee respectively. Local MPs, MLAs and Legislative Council members and other government public sector undertaking officials will be members of the committee.

The committee will meet at least once every three months at the district headquarters and shall be consulted in the preparation of the detailed project report (DPR) under DDUGJY and IPDS, a letter from the union energy ministry to the state government said.

The committee will be responsible for monitoring the government schemes and reviewing power supply, consumer satisfaction and promoting energy efficiency and energy conservation in the localities, said the letter.

In a bid to enhance electricity network in urban areas and strengthen sub-transmission and distribution system, including metering of distribution transformers, provisioning solar panels, feeders and consumers in urban areas, the Centre had launched IPDS project in December last year .

At the same time, the DDUGJY focuses on strengthening rural electrification.