Telangana: SPDCL to provide power to agricultural fields in subsidised rates

Each connection will cost Rs. 75,000, however, a farmer will be asked to pay only Rs. 5,000 and the remaining Rs. 70,000 will be borne by the government under subsidy

Hyderabad: The Telangana Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TGSPDCL) has come up with a new scheme to provide agricultural connections to farmers for Rs. 5,000.

Officials say that Rs. 508.95 crore have been allocated for this scheme to be implemented in Nalgonda, Suryapet, Saroornagar, Medak, Vikarabad, Yadadri, Narayanpet, Rajendranagar, Gadwal, Rangareddy, Sangareddy and Mahabubnagar operation circles.

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Under this scheme four to five HP pumpsets will be connected from a 25 KVA transformer. Agricultural fields which are away from power lines will be given priority.

Each connection will cost Rs. 75,000, however, a farmer will be asked to pay only Rs. 5,000 and the remaining Rs. 70,000 will be borne by the government under subsidy.

Normally, in the current distribution network, the 11kv HT line goes to the DTC (Distribution Transformer Centre) and from there lengthy LT lines are drawn to give supply to different installations of irrigation pump sets.

By connecting four or five pump sets, the problem of frequent power supply disruptions due to failure of the distribution transformer will be reduced considerably, the officials said.

The new scheme would help farmers in getting quality power supply at less price, the officials say. Currently, there are over 27 lakh pump sets connections in the State and all of them are being covered under the free power scheme.

The centre has in principle reportedly agreed to provide subsidy to about 20,000 solar-powered agriculture pumps on a pilot basis under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) in the State.

The electricity generated from the solar pumps would be connected to electric lines and a net meter would be installed and the units used for the borewell would be deducted and the remaining amount would be paid to the farmer at the rate of Rs.3.13 per unit.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has already asked officials to take steps to install solar pumps in all the villages in the State. He also asked the officials to start implementing the same as a pilot project in his native village Kondareddipalle in Nagarkurnool district.