Now, 9 hrs of free power daily for agriculture sector in state

  • | Monday | 18th February, 2019

Amaravati: It’s the best of times for farmers in the state. On Saturday, the government decided to hike the annual financial assistance to farmers to Rs 15,000, including the Rs 6,000 grant from the Centre.Now, following the recent decision of the state cabinet to increase free power supply to the agriculture sector by two hours from the existing seven, the Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL) started the nine-hour power supply from Sunday. The situation in many areas in Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts is no different either. Now, the ryots can heave a sigh of relief. With the Rabi season coming to a close, the additional hours of free supply is expected to benefit farmers in a big way.In fact, they have been pumping out extra water through borewells, particularly in Rayalaseema region where there has been no rain in any of the districts in the last three months.

Amaravati: It’s the best of times for farmers in the state. On Saturday, the government decided to hike the annual financial assistance to farmers to Rs 15,000, including the Rs 6,000 grant from the Centre.Now, following the recent decision of the state cabinet to increase free power supply to the agriculture sector by two hours from the existing seven, the Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL) started the nine-hour power supply from Sunday. The cabinet had asked discom authorities to implement the decision as soon as possible, and the SPDCL, after completing its field-level arrangements, decided to start the supply.About 14 lakh farmers in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore, Chittoor, Kadapa, Ananthapuram and Kurnool districts will benefit from the decision as power supply to the agriculture sector is free in the state.The government has subsidized the discoms’ energy costs to help them tide over the costs incurred due to supply of free power to farmers.Though the government promised to give the nine-hour supply during day time for farmers’ convenience, the absence of separate feeders in rural areas has forced the discoms to supply power in two separate spells of six and three hours each.In some districts, where the power utilities have been segregated into three divisions, the supply will be provided in three different shifts.SPDCL chairman and managing director M M Nayak reviewed the arrangements with superintending engineers on Sunday and directed them to ensure that power supply to the agriculture sector is uninterrupted and hassle-free. With the Rabi season coming to a close, the additional hours of free supply is expected to benefit farmers in a big way.In fact, they have been pumping out extra water through borewells, particularly in Rayalaseema region where there has been no rain in any of the districts in the last three months. The situation in many areas in Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts is no different either. Now, the ryots can heave a sigh of relief.

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