CHENNAI: Legislators belonging to different parties on Monday urged the Government to increase the duration of power supply for farm connection and clear backlog of applications submitted by farmers.

Participating in a debate in the Assembly on the demand for grants to the Energy department, the members also wanted the Government to take steps for providing uninterrupted supply to farmers.

R. Viswanathan (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) criticised the Government for adopting an "undeclared power cut" in rural areas.

The legislator, who held the electricity portfolio during the AIADMK regime, said the Electricity Board had to pay Rs. 400 crore annually to some private power producers in the State, irrespective of whether it purchased power from them or not.

Arcot N. Veerasamy, Electricity Minister, said the duration of power supply to farmers had not been reduced. In respect of the Pillai Perumal Nallur project, the Government had given permission to the independent power producer to use natural gas and this would enable savings of Rs. 900 crore annually to the Electricity Board. But, this matter had been pending with the previous AIADMK regime for a year.

D. Amaramoorthy (Congress) wanted the Government to fill vacancies for the posts of field staff. T. Ramasamy (Communist Party of India) said nearly one lakh applications for farm connections were pending with the authorities for approval.

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