Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that the government will provide free electricity connections to four crore rural homes so that the poor can have access to power.

The decision will cost the government Rs 16,000 crore which will not be passed on to the poor, Modi said.

He said the connections will be delivered at the doors of the rural poor for which they would not have to go after the government officials.

The Prime Minister was speaking at a function to launch ‘Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojna’ — the scheme for easy electricity to every household — at the renovated ONGC Bhavan, renamed after BJP ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya.