NEW DELHI: The government will fast-track its plan to supply electricity to every village in the country and use solar power generation to light up remote hamlets — an early sign of how the energy sector may gain by putting one minister in charge of related portfolios, officials said.The minister for power, coal and renewable energy Piyush Goyal recently reviewed the status of rural electrifications and directed officers of his ministry, Rural Electrification Corporation REC ) and Power Grid Corporation to identify and eliminate bottlenecks to speed up the ongoing projects.He also sought views on possibility of commissioning small and rooftop solar projects to connect the remotest households, which were not covered in past. During the meetings, REC shared the details of the challenges and pending clearances in achieving the targets."The government does not ensure only electricity to all but also wants to provide adequate electricity for villages to boost local economic activities. During the meeting, REC and PGCIL were asked to work closely with the state governments and resolve pending issues. The idea is also to improve reliability of power supply beyond just lighting in rural areas to generate employment locally," said a government officer close to the development.The government wants to set up new transmission lines and set up solar powered micro-grids to connect villages where regional power grids are unable to reach. India’s installed power generation capacity increased to 2.45 lakh mw from 1.75 lakh mw in March 2011. However, penetration of power has not grown at the same pace.So far, out of 5.94 lakh villages, 5.72 lakh have been electrified while 3.6 per cent or 21,318 villages are without power. Centre has been implementing rural electrification projects in partnership with state governments under the under its Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana, which may be tweaked to achieve the balance target.Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya account for close to 90 per cent of the villages that still do not have electricity. They have not been able to complete some of the projects that started over five years back due to delays in clearances for setting up transmission network and local law and order situations besides cost overruns.The ministry is also considering releasing new funds to the states only after they complete their ongoing projects. As soon as he resumed his office, Goyal had praised ‘Gujarat model’ and expressed his interests to learn from the same to improve power sector.Promptly, Gujarat’s energy minister Saurabh Patel has offered his cooperation. Under the Jyotigram Yojna, Gujarat achieved 100 per cent of rural electrification in 2006 by separating electric feeder for domestic use and agricultural supply. BJP, in its manifesto for general elections, had promised power, water and sanitation for all.