Farm scheme could benefit 84,000

In Pune zone,84,000 agriculturists have not paid their bills and the arrears have mounted to Rs 27 crore,says S P Nagtilak,Chief Engineer,Pune division of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited.

Around 22 lakh farmers in the state can take advantage of the scheme,Deputy CM and state Finance Minister Ajit Pawar had said in his maiden budget speech. Announcing the scheme,he had pointed out that despite heavy concessions in electricity rates,dues outstanding with farmers at the end of December 2010 was about Rs 5,900 crore,including interest of Rs 2,930 crore and penal interest of Rs 59 crore,he had said in his budget speech.

Efforts are also being made to make ‘Electricity Connection on Demand’ a reality from April,2011. To speed up electrification of agricultural pumps and remove backlog,Rs 80 crore has been proposed in the budget for 2011-12,officials at the MSEDCL headquarters in Mumbai said. In 2010-11,Mahavitaran would provide electricity connections to 2,75,000 agricultural pumps,officials added.

Maharashtra Veej Grahak Sanghatana president Pratap Hogade said it was a good scheme and would help farmers pay outstanding arrears.

Earlier,in 2004,the energy department of the Maharashtra had decided to introduce the scheme as an incentive for agriculturists,facing drought conditions and other problems, to pay their power arrears.

The amnesty scheme had helped in the recovery of dues for 2003.