Pay if you want round-the-clock power supply appears to be the message the government wants to give the farmers who are getting free power — but only for about seven hours a day — to run their irrigation pump-sets.
This was evident during the reply of Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar to the debate in the Legislative Assembly on the Energy Department’s demand for grants on Tuesday. He announced a new scheme for energising IP sets which also has provisions to ensure 24-hour supply from high-tension lines for farmers willing to install meters and pay for the consumption.
Farmers willing to pay for power and interested in immediate connection would be given connection from the 11 kV high-tension lines to ensure 24-hour supply for their IP sets. However, the farmers would have to pay for the power infrastructure such as drawing of new lines and installation of meters, he said.
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Farmers who are getting free supply now have been given the option to switchover to the payment option to get round-the-clock power by installing meters. Such farmers would be provided aerial bunched cables which ensure safety. While the Escoms would bear the cost of such cables, farmers would have to bear the expense of transformers and pay the prescribed deposit.
The new scheme aims to ensure that all IP sets, including the unauthorised ones, get power connection without waiting for the regularisation scheme. Explaining the constrains in supplying three-phase power to operate IP sets, the Minister said it would require about Rs. 1,000 crore to provide one hour of three-phase supply to IP sets which number around 22 lakh in the State. Presently, the government was paying a subsidy of about Rs. 6,500 crore towards free supply to IP sets, he said.
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He also announced setting up of taluk-level transformer banks to ensure that there was no shortage of transformers.
The Minister assured Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar of considering his demand for reviving the Hubli unit of the NGEF.