New Delhi, March 14 (IANS) A total of 323 villages in nine states were electrified during last week, ending March 13, under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna, an official statement said on Monday.

"Of these electrified villages, 33 in Bihar, 61 villages are in Uttar Pradesh, 86 in Odisha, 16 in Assam, 6 in Chhattisgarh, 42 in Arunachal Pradesh, 73 in Jharkhand, 3 in Madhya Pradesh and 3 in Rajasthan," said the power ministry statement, adding that a total of 6,493 villages have been electrified during 2015-16 till date.

The government has decided to electrify the remaining 18,452 un-electrified villages by May 1, 2018, it said.

"Of the remaining 11,959 villages, 8,219 villages are to be electrified through grid, 3,267 villages through off-grid where grid solutions are out of reach due to geographical barriers and 473 villages are to be electrified by the state governments.

"The project has been taken on mission mode and strategy for electrification consists of squeezed implementation schedule of 12 months with 12-stage milestones for village electrification monitoring with defined timelines," the statement added.