Current Affairs - Places - Discussion

In Varanasi, overhead power cables are being taken off after underground lines have been laid for more than 16 sq km. Under the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) of Indian government, Powergrid has laid 16 square kilometers of underground lines in Varanasi. This will be utilized by nearly 50,000 consumers. In June 2015, Former Union minister of state for power and coal Piyush Goyal announced the Rs 432-crore project for underground cabling work under IPDS for Varanasi. Work on this project was started in December 2015. Atul Nigam, managing director of Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, said that, line loss in the area covered by IPDS has reduced to 9.9% from 42.7%.