State takes first step to regulate free power
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 19
Punjab has finally taken the first step to regulate the free power supply scheme for tube well connections to farmers with the two-member committee on resource mobilisation today recommending a replacement of this subsidy with a more workable alternative.

The report of the committee, which was submitted to CM Parkash Singh Badal by its members Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia, will be taken up for an approval at a specially convened Cabinet meeting on January 22.

Though the panel has recommended giving a productivity bonus to farmers by reimbursing them for the bills they will give to the state electricity utility, there seems to be a major gap that is still to be covered.

The productivity bonus, which will be reimbursed to farmers in two biannual cycles at the rate of Rs 50 per BHP according to the tube well motor used by them, comes to Rs 621 crore per year. The agriculture subsidy enjoyed by farmers at present is around Rs 2,600 crore.

The step, however, gives a major relief to both the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and the government. The PSEB will get some dues from farmers even if they are charged only a fraction of the power consumed by them. The government by reimbursing Rs 621 crore to farmers will not have to give the PSEB an additional Rs 2,000 crore as it is doing at present.

Farmers will have to wait to be reimbursed from the government in due time with the method for reimbursing them still to be decided.

The PSEB, however, still has the daunting task of identifying the leakages that have taken the power subsidy bill to Rs 2,600. With the two-member committee not suggesting the collection of bills on metered supply, the board may continue to be confronted with the same leakages.

Explaining the report, Media Adviser to the CM Harcharan Singh Bains maintained that the agriculture subsidy was reworked “to help farmers”. He said the revised format would help in getting the farmer’s expenditure on power included as a factor for determining the MSP. He said reworking subsidies would help the state in getting much-needed funds from bodies, including the World Bank.

He said subsidies to the farm sector had not been withdrawn, adding that other subsidies like shagun scheme, aata-daal and old-age pension would continue.

Meanwhile, the power subsidy given to BPL families, which come to around Rs 450 crore annually, has also been reworked.

The free units allowed to such families have been halved from 200 units to 100 units now. However, the government will give subsidy to them to shift to CFL technology.