Bengaluru: Former external affairs minister S.M. Krishna on Monday appealed to Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman to announce a country-wide scheme to replace the existing power guzzling Irrigation Pumpsets (IP sets) with energy efficient sets.
In a letter to Ms Sitharaman, Mr Krishna suggested a National Energy Efficient Agriculture Pumps Programme under the name ‘Pradhana Mantri Sasya Shyamala Krishi Samriddhi Yojana’ with 75:25 funding by the Union government and state government respectively.
Mr Krishna contended that the potential energy savings across the country could be about 52 billion units.
“With the implementation of this scheme, there would be reduction in CO2 emissions per year- about 56 million tonnes. This programme will help millions of farmers in replacing age old agricultural pumps with the new age energy efficient pumpsets,” he said in his letter.
According to him, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), in collaboration with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has initiated implementation of a pilot project for replacement of conventional pumpsets with BEE star-rated energy efficient pumpsets in Solapur circle of Maharashtra. In Karnataka, more than 26 lakh farmers use IP sets. "If these pumpsets are replaced with BEE star-rated energy efficient pumpsets, it will help the state save about 30% electricity. Secondly loss in transmission and distribution of electricity can be avoided," he explained.
