The Hindu : Front Page : Waiting for 24 years to get power connection

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 20, 2007
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Waiting for 24 years to get power connection

S. Prasad

Krishnagiri: It has been a long wait of 24 years. Fiftyone thousand three hundred and eighty two farmers in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts have been hoping all these years to get power connection for their agricultural pump sets. Applications of a majority of the farmers, who had filed them during 1984-85 are yet to be cleared.

Farmers are provided with power connection under various categories, including free power supply scheme, Jeevan Dhara Scheme and various self-financing schemes. According to sources in the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB), 1,623 power connections have been given to farmers in 2006-07 as against the target of 2,949. Similarly, about 318 connections were provided in 2007-08 as against 1,942 connections.

TNEB caters to 1,09,025 connections in both districts. Since agriculture in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri is dependent on irrigation wells and other water sources the need for power to pump ground water for farming activities has always been high. Sources in the department of agriculture said the demand has been consistently increasing in the last few years. As a result, the TNEB has been unable to meet the demands of farmers for new power connections.

A senior official said, “the TNEB has to work within the annual target fixed by the Board on the number of connections they could offer. This has resulted in the waiting list piling up. TNEB has now started providing power connections to those who had applied in the nineties. Under the self-finance scheme power connections for pump sets were being provided to farmers who had applied in 2000.”

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