Pay farmers cash for power bills: Plan Panel

The Planning Commission today suggested providing cash compensation to farmers for payment of electricity bills instead of the present system of subsidy to lower wastage of power and overdrawal of water.

Releasing the report of the Expert Group on Ground Water Management and Ownership, Kirit Parikh, Member Planning Commission, said such a mechanism would prevent over-exploitation of ground water, especially in areas where the recharge was low, without increasing the subsidy burden that was as high as Rs 30,000 crore in 2001-02.

According to the proposed scheme, farmers could be assigned an amount based on a fixed number of power units. For example, farmers can be given Rs 6,000 at Rs 2 per unit for use of 3,000 units of electricity, the report says.

"The total charges can be deducted from the given amount and the surplus may be handed over to the farming community at year end," Parikh said.

The report also suggested the separation of agriculture pump from household pumps, besides using advanced tools like geographical information system and remote sensing equipment for groundwater management. The country need to involve Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) to ensure efficient use of groundwater, Parikh said, pointing out that six lakh PRIs should manage the groundwater utilisation and ensure their recharge during monsoons.

In reply to the query whether groundwater was being over-exploited by multinationals like Coca Cola and others, the plan panel member said bulk of the critical resource was being used in the agriculture sector and added that PRIs should be empowered to deal with the issues concerning allocation of water to the users.

Parikh further said that companies may be allowed to extract the groundwater in accordance with the size of their land holdings. The report suggested that power subsidy be replaced by cash compensation on the basis of benchmarked land holdings. The measure, on the one hand, will help streamlining the power sector and also provide cash relief to poor farmers.