AGRA: The BJP has planned to celebrate Diwali this month in 1800 villages in Uttar Pradesh that were electrified after the Yogi government came into power in the state.According to a senior party leader, majority of these villages are in Western Uttar Pradesh including Bijnor (243), Badaun (260), Bareilly (94), Bulandshahar (93), Mainpuri (87), Muzzafarnagar (50), etc. Some eastern UP villages that were electrified under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Rural Electrification Scheme (DDURES) are from Barabanki and other districts.Vice President of state BJP unit, JPS Rathore, said that power supply to these villages reached after 71 years of independence all due to the efforts of the Yogi government. The aim of celebrating Diwali is to spread the message that the BJP government is consistently working for development of all the areas that were neglected by the earlier regimes.He said, “MLAs and party leaders have been asked to visit each of these villages and celebrate Diwali by bursting crackers and distributing sweets among the residents”.Party leaders will also propagate the schemes and achievements of the government while briefing the residents of these villages.Talking to TOI, state energy minister Srikant Sharma said the central scheme DDURES got a major thrust in UP after BJP came to power in March 2017. The electrification work was expedited after the state government inked a 24*7 power for all agreement with the centre on April 14 last year.He said that besides revenue villages, 72,000 hamlets have also been covered and the government has targeted completion of work in the remaining 62,000 hamlets till December 31 this year. He said that after celebrating Diwali in the villages, celebrations will also be held in these hamlets.