VIJAYAWADA: The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for ‘YSR Free Power’ scheme received massive response from farmers in all the 13 districts in the state. According to officials, around 92 per cent of farmers gave their consent to power utilities to implement the DBT scheme.
The officials stated that the state government had introduced the DBT for free power scheme which the government of India also suggested to implement in order to improve the quality of power with accountability. The state government had taken all necessary steps to protect the interest of farmers and gave instructions to power utilities to go forward only after obtaining willingness from farmers to implement the DBT in the free power scheme, they said.
Officials said even though the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) fixed a tariff of Rs 5.73 per unit on an average for agriculture power supply, there would not be any burden on farmers as the government would bear the entire amount in the form of subsidy. The DBT scheme implemented as a pilot project in Srikakulam district was successful with 98.6 per cent of farmers giving consent voluntarily for installing meters and entering into agreement, officials said.
Energy Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy said the government took every effort to safeguard the interests of farmers. He assured that under the DBT scheme, no farmer needed to pay a single penny from their pockets as the government would deposit the entire amount in the accounts of farmers. He stated that the farmers would pay to power utilities which would give a right to farmers to question the utilities to provide highly qualitative power.
Srinivas Reddy asked officials to go for a vigorous awareness campaign to clarify all doubts and apprehensions if any among the farmers and explain the benefits of DBT of free power scheme and involve remaining farmers in the scheme that would directly benefit them.
