Hyderabad: The scheme to provide round-the-clock free power to the agriculture sector from next year will benefit medium and large farmers more than small farmers. Government records show that of the 55.56 land holders in the state, 34 lakh have less than half a hectare. About 2 lakh have between five and 15 hectares. According to experts, about 75 per cent of agriculture land holders don’t need 24-hour power supply.
According to estimates, 24x7 supply to the agriculture sector will cost about Rs 7,000 crore per year. The state has 23 lakh agriculture pump sets, and the government will be spending about Rs 34,000 to supply power to each of them. Farmers have so far not removed auto-starters on their pump sets, which they had installed during the years of erratic power supply. Transco has decided to hold a special drive from December 5 to educate the farmers to remove them.
The auto-starters switch on the pump sets, whether there is a need to water the crops or not. This will not only impose and additional burden on the system but also deplete groundwater. A senior officer in the energy department said if all the farmers remove the auto-starters, power consumption would will be less for 24x7 power supply than the present nine-hour supply.
If the auto-starters are removed, farmers will use the pump sets only when they need to water the fields, an official said. After the announcement of 24x7 power supply, many farmers told the government that they don’t need round the clock power. Energy minister G. Jagadish Reddy has stated previously that he had received many messages on his mobile phone from farmers informing him that round-the-clock power was not needed.
