Power connections against all applications registered prior to year 2007 will be released within this month under Agriculture Power Tube Wells Policy, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today said.
All other applicants registered afresh will be allotted tube well connections during the next six months as the state has become power surplus with the commissioning of new power plants, he said addressing villagers during 'Sangat Darshan' at Giana village.
Badal said that it was SAD-BJP government that had been clearing the pendency of about 75,000 tube well connections to the farmers, alleging that the "previous Congress government never bothered to release even a single connection."
He informed that the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) authorities have been already asked to release power connections to farmers having less than five acre land at the earliest.
Optimum utilisation of all existing government tube wells installed for irrigation purposes should be done, he said.
Badal stated that the state was incurring an additional burden Rs 5,000 crore per year for giving free power to the farmers but this facility would be continued as it provides relief to the farming community.
