The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Free power supply to farmers from August 1

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Friday, Jul 18, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Free power supply to farmers from August 1

B.S. Satish Kumar

But no plans on increasing power generation

Subsidy allocation of Rs. 2,050 crore has been allocated to energy sector
Escoms have sought additional subsidy of Rs. 875 crore a year for free power

BANGALORE: The free power supply to irrigation pumpsets (IP sets) in the State will commence from August 1. The State Budget presented by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has proposed to supply free power to 15 lakh IP sets with a capacity of up to 10 HP in the State, in keeping with the pre-poll promise made by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

However, it is mandatory for farmers to install electricity meters to their IP sets to get free power. The electricity meters would be installed by the respective electricity supplying companies (Escoms) to measure actual consumption by IP sets.

A total subsidy allocation of Rs. 2,050 crore has been allocated to the energy sector to take care of the free power supply. Last year, the government had allocated a subsidy of Rs. 1,700 crore to the power sector. However, the State power regulator had pegged the subsidy at Rs. 1,550 crore.

Though the Escoms have sought an additional subsidy of Rs. 875 crore a year for free power supply, Mr. Yeddyurappa maintained that Rs. 750 crore is sufficient. Of this additional subsidy, only Rs. 500 crore has been allocated this year as just eight months are left in this fiscal, indicating that farmers would have to pay for the power supply for the four months from April to July.

Subsidy shortfall

Sources said that the quantum of subsidy allocated by the Government for free power is bound to fall short. Because, the Government has considered only 15 lakh IP sets while the State has a total of 16 lakh IP sets, including a lakh of unauthorised IP sets. Now, the subsidy calculations will be affected if the owners of unauthorised IP sets want to legalise their sets.

There is no word on increasing the number of hours of supply for IP sets. Similarly, there are no concrete initiatives to improve quality of power supply to rural areas, but for the ongoing rural load management scheme. The budget reiterates the Government’s commitment to fulfil the pre-poll promise of adding 5,000 MW of power to the State grid in the next five years. But it does not spell out specific plans or break-up on how much of additional power would be generated every year.

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