ANANTAPUR: The move to impose user charges of Rs. 600 per acre for farmers in upland areas under lift irrigation (LI) schemes would be a bane for farmers who were waiting to irrigate their lands from LI schemes like Handri-Neeva, Kalwakurthi, Bheema and Gutpha in upland areas of Rayalaseema and Telangana, State president of Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham affiliated to CPI K. Ramakrishna alleged here.

There was no justification to the proposal as farmers under canal irrigation, who get water for wet crops, would pay lesser user charges than what was proposed for farmers under LI schemes, who can use water only for irrigated dry crops, the former legislator said. The Government's move to press the farmers to go for ISI-mark pumpsets as a precondition to avail the free power supply would also be a burden as each farmer would incur an additional expenditure of up to Rs. 30,000 to meet the specifications, he said.

Of the 23 lakh official and another two lakh unofficial (illegal) farm power connections in the State, only about two lakh farmers had ISI-marked pumpsets and implements.

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