Power subsidy to cost state exchequer Rs 5,109 cr this year

The PSERC’s communication states that for the current fiscal year, the state will have to bear a burden of Rs  4,454.54 crore for supplying free power to the agriculture sector, Rs 654.86 crore for SC families and Rs 158.26 cr for BPL families.

In the last fiscal year, free power to the agriculture sector cost the government Rs 4,778 crore, for SC families the figure stood at Rs 790 crore, while for BPL families it was Rs 39 crore. Though the beneficiaries under the BPL category have increased this year, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) was successful in installing meters for more than 90 per cent consumers. Earlier, the state was being charged for average power consumption of all these three sectors.

Sources added that while a fresh burden of Rs 5,100 crore has been mounted on the state government, it is yet to clear the outstanding amount for the last two years, which stands at Rs 1,000 crore, to the regulatory commission.

Power subsidy is believed to be a major reason behind the empty coffers of the state government, but the SAD-BJP combine has been providing these sops against advice from agriculture experts. Even during the Progressive Agriculture Summit organised by the government earlier this year, scientists had moved a resolution advising the government to roll back the subsidy to make the farmers self-sufficient.
However, the government decided to continue with the subsidy.