Punjabs unique scheme of reimbursing farmers who pay power bills is facing an equally unique problem. As the productivity bonus cheques are reaching farmers who have paid the bills,some are finding it impossible to encash them . The hitch: the cheques are in names of their fathers and grandfathers,many of whom are long dead. A decade after power became free for farmers in Punjab,many have not renewed their account and their tubewell connections remain in the name of their fathers and grandfathers. And as farmers are billed on the basis of horse power of tubewells,the cheques are also in the names of tubewell owners. Many farmers have approched us with the problem and we are going to bring the matter to the notice of the government, said Bhartiya Kisan Union president Balbir Singh Rajewal.
