AURANGABAD: Union minister of state for power Piyush Goyal on Sunday said he was completely in the dark about the Centre's plan to carry out 100% rural electrification in 1,000 days, before Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally announced it during his Independence Day speech last year."Like any other person present at the Red Fort, I heard it for the first time when the prime minister announced the 1,000-day target. I was surprised for a moment, but after all, he (Modi) is known for setting such aggressive targets and this is how things are achieved in an effective way," the minister said.Speaking with newspersons here after performing virtual inauguration of the 47.6 MW wind power project at Khirvire in Akole taluka of Ahmednagar district, Goyal further said the bureaucrats from his ministry gave a head-start for efforts towards fulfilling the target envisaged by the prime minister."It was Saturday when the prime minister announced the target and I thought of convening a meeting of senior bureaucrats from my ministry early next week to mobilise things accordingly. But much to my surprise, the bureaucrats concerned had already kept an action plan ready and handed over it to me when I reached the office on Monday," the minister said.Goyal said it was wrong to always criticise government officials. "We often criticise bureaucrats for their alleged inefficiency and red-tapism, but many of them are of full of energy and have vision to bring in desired change," he said, making a special mention of the 2001 batch of IAS officers from his ministry.Reiterating that all the villages in the country will get electricity by May next year much before the 1,000-day deadline, Goyal, however, said the electrification work was being carried out at snail's pace, especially in large states such as Uttar Pradesh."Since the prime minister set the target, we have electrified 10,412 villages. The work has been carried out at a far better speed as compared to the past five years," he said.Regarding the progress of probe into the coal scam, Goyal said the investigating agencies were doing their job. "At our end, we have created a system that will not allow any irregularity or scam in future by the involvement of politicians or bureaucrats. Natural resources belong to the country that should be allocated in a fair and transparent manner," he said.About the constant opposition by Shiv Sena to the Jaitapur nuclear power project proposed in Ratnagiri district, the minister said the issues can be resolved through talks."There was a similar opposition to the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu , but talks helped in resolving the contentions," Goyal said, adding that the generation of nuclear power is looked upon by the department of atomic energy that falls outside the purview of his ministry.