CM puts riders to free power scheme

After some initial vacillations, the state government today finally came out with a string of changes in its pet 'free power to farm sector' scheme.

While announcing the decision, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said that the marginal changes envisaged in the scheme were aimed at strengthening the system rather than reducing any financial burden on the government.

The government has excluded all those families who own more than three pump sets in dryland areas and all those farmers who own more than 2.5 acres of land under major and medium irrigation projects from the free power scheme.

The government has also excluded corporate farmers including companies registered under Companies Act, partnership firms, societies and trusts including income tax assessees.

While families who own more than three services in dry land areas and more than 2.5 acres in canal areas will be charged 50 paise per unit, those who come under the corporate and other kinds of organised farming will be charged Rs 2 per unit.

With the demand side management (DSM) measures such as fitting frictionless valves and capacitors to pump sets, the first category farmers can avail power at 20 paise per unit while the second category farmers will be given Re 1 concession on each unit of consumption.

The changes will come into effect from April 1, 2005.

The government has also made it mandatory to all the farmers who are eligible under the free power scheme to undertake DSM measures for the efficient use of electricity in a three-year period.

Significantly, the government has barred these eligible category farmers from sowing paddy, which is a water-intensive crop, as a second crop. In case any farmer grows paddy as a second crop, he will be charged 50 paise (20 paise if DSM is implemented) per unit (1 kwh). The chief minister said that all those connections, which do not come under the free power scheme, would be metered.

With these new changes, over three lakh agricultural services, which include one lakh under corporate farming, one lakh connections in dryland areas and another one lakh pump sets in canal areas, are expected to be eliminated from the free power scheme.

According to the chief minister, the saving on account of exclusion will not be more than Rs 60 crore.

"Even this amount would be utilised for providing agricultural connections to farmers," Rajasekhara Reddy said while maintaining that the move was in no way amounted to going back on the original election promise.

As per the APTransco figures, the state has a whopping 23.5 lakh agricultural services, majority of them functioning in the drought-prone Telangana and Rayalaseema regions.

At present, the state government is paying close to Rs 1,800 crore towards power subsidy to both farm and domestic consumers.

Power equations

• Govt excludes companies registered under Companies Act, partnership firms, societies & trusts including income tax assessees from the scheme
• Families who own more than 3 services in dry land areas & more than 2.5 acres in canal areas will be charged 50 paise per unit
• New changes to come into effect from April 1, 2005