Non-BJP ruled States prove proactive in supplying free power to farm sector

Telangana was the only State providing quality and uninterrupted power at free of cost to farmers, says RBI report.

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao pitching for a non-BJP government at the Centre to supply uninterrupted, free and quality power to the agricultural sector across the country, comes out of a well-thought and thorough research over the years. While all the BJP-ruled States have been levying heavy power charges on farmers, the States ruled by non-BJP governments are either supplying power for free or collecting nominal charges from farmers.

The TRS-ruled Telangana has the distinction of being the only State in the country to supply uninterrupted, free and quality power to the agriculture sector. A report (https://telanganatoday.com/telangana-positioned-better-than-bjp-ruled-states-in-power-supply-to-farmers-ground-water-levels) published by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in May this year, stated that of the total 19 agriculturally important States in India where the RBI study was conducted, Telangana was the only State providing quality and uninterrupted power at free of cost.

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The three other States which are supplying free power to agriculture sector, are ruled by the non-BJP governments. Though for limited hours, Tamil Nadu ruled by DMK, Punjab ruled Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Andhra Pradesh ruled by YSR Congress party, are providing free power to the agriculture sector without putting any restrictions or imposing surcharges. Just like Telangana, both the State governments have fully subsidised power supply to farming sector.

Other non-BJP-ruled States like West Bengal, Kerala, Jharkhand and Odisha, are collecting nominal power charges in the range of Rs 1.50 per unit to a maximum of Rs 3.10 per unit even for the metered connections. The power charges collected in these States are Rs 3.10, Rs 2.30, Rs 1.75, and Rs 1.50 respectively. Additionally, they are collecting demand charges ranging from Rs 15-50 per month.

But the tale of the BJP-ruled States is altogether different. Leave alone supplying free or uninterrupted power, most States struggle to maintain quality in power supply. Yet, the power charges collected from the farmers is as high as Rs 6.67 per unit in Haryana, Rs 2-6 per unit in Uttar Pradesh, Rs 4.79-6.10 per unit in Madhya Pradesh, Rs 5.05 in Chhattisgarh, Rs 3.90 in Karnataka, and Rs 3.30 in Maharashtra among others. Further, all the BJP-ruled States are also imposing demand charges in the range of Rs 20-130 per HP of a pumpset every month.

Certain BJP-ruled States like Karnataka and Gujarat are supplying power to agriculture sector at subsidised tariff, but with severe restrictions to reduce the number of beneficiaries. Interestingly, the Gujarat government’s tariff is more beneficial to corporate farmers than individual farmers. In all, the corporate farmers are charged only Rs 200 per HP per month against entire contracted load and free power will be ensured to them. However, individual farmers in Gujarat are being forced to pay Rs 20 per HP per month in addition to power tariff charges of Rs 0.60-0.80 per unit.