The State government has decided to release more than 50,000 new agriculture connections by the end of March for providing free power supply to a larger number of farmers thereby help transform the agriculture sector into a profitable economic activity.
As on Sunday, free power is being supplied to around 17.67 lakh agriculture connections in 13 districts and the number is poised to cross 18 lakh this year after the release of new connections, according to an official release.
The government has already released about 25,000 connections in the last few months. Of the total 6,663 agriculture feeders in the State, around 5,200 are now equipped to supply free power to agriculture with some augmentation to be done.
It has been stated that the government laid special focus on nine-hour power supply and sanctioned ₹1,700 crore for upgrading the existing infrastructure.
The APTransco is also making efforts for implementing the scheme more effectively and has taken up work of substations and other infrastructure development in East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, and Nellore districts at a cost of nearly ₹287 crore to facilitate nine-hour free power supply.
The discoms are striving to sort out field-level issues and ensure free power to every agriculture pumpsets.
Top priority
Meanwhile, Energy Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy has said at a review meeting that the government keen on making free power a permanent scheme to support farmers in future and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy gave top priority to it to boost the agriculture productivity and enhance the rural economy in all regions.
The government is spending approximately ₹7,780 crore on subsidy to the agriculture sector for 2019-20. Similarly, it is spending ₹475 crore on subsidy to aquaculture and providing power to 54,098 aqua culture services in the State at ₹1.50 per unit.
Energy Secretary N. Srikant has said as per the directions from the government, officials of the power utilities from linemen to chairmen are striving to make the scheme a success.
