In a move that may unnerve farmers, the Tamil Nadu government, by joining the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY), has committed itself to replacing at least 10% of existing agriculture pumps with energy-efficient pumps by March 2019.
The last time an attempt was made by the then DMK government (in August 2010) to replace farm pumpsets belonging to small and marginal farmers, there was strong opposition, causing it to backfire. At that time, the government had decided to provide energy-efficient pumpsets, free of cost, for nearly 15 lakh connections. The scheme, which met its natural end a few years later, saw the installation of hardly 200 fresh pumpsets.
One reason why the farmers oppose any attempt to replace the existing agriculture pumps is that the government permits them to use only pumpsets up to 5 horse power (HP)-capacity to draw groundwater to be eligible for free power. But with groundwater depleting rapidly, farmers have, in many places, deployed pumpsets of higher capacity to draw water. The energy-efficient pumps will be only of 5 HP-capacity.
‘Barely useful’
Veteran agriculturist S. Ranganathan says a 5 HP pumpset is barely useful. Even in the Cauvery delta, the average groundwater level is around 300 ft, and in other areas, it varies between 600 ft and 1,000 ft, says a former official of the Public Works Department (PWD).
As a result, in many cases, making use of the free power scheme, farmers are using higher-capacity pumpsets. If the replacement is to be taken up seriously, these farmers have to surrender their existing pumpsets and they may find such a course of action not beneficial, says a retired Tangedco official who was associated with the 2010 initiative.
The move to replace at least 10% of the existing pumpsets has been stated in a petition filed by Tangedco recently before the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) for tariff adjustment.
Of the 20.7 lakh agricultural connections in the State, a minimum of two lakh connections will be covered under the proposed move.
In view of the existing free power supply scheme, which has remained a politically sensitive subject over several decades, any proposal for change in this area was, in the past, viewed by the farmers with suspicion or scepticism.
Twin priorities
A senior Tangedco official says that though the commitment has been given under the UDAY scheme (meant for operational and financial turnaround of State-owned electricity distribution companies), the Corporation is according priority to bringing down transmission and distribution losses in the next two years. The official adds that many departments, including the State Agriculture department, are carrying out various schemes aimed at demand-side management. Among such schemes is the installation of solar-powered pumpsets for farm connections.
